1 TEACHING CHÖGYAL NAMKHAI NORBU, PUTTING THE BUDDHA’S WORDS IN A BOX

3 MUSEUM AT MERIGAR, INTERVIEW WITH CHÖGYAL NAMKHAI NORBU

4 TWENTY YEARS AT TSEGYALGAR

7 RINPOCHE’S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AT MARGARITA

8 LONG DISTANCE SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM, ASIA’S SCHOOL PROJECTS IN TIBET

10 SHANG-SHUNG INSTITUTE NEWS

14 - 20 COMMUNITY NEWS

22 INTERNATIONAL GAKYIL NEWS

24 DAILY LIFE IN THE MIRROR: DEATH, LOSS AND GRIEF

28 HOW I MET CHÖGYAL NAMKHAI NORBU BY DES BARRY

THE MIRRORNewspaper of the International Dzogchen Community November/December 2003 • Issue No. 66

by Janis Page

The leaves were just beginning toburst into the vibrant golds and

reds of their autumn ripening whenVajra brothers and sisters fromacross the continent, from SouthAmerica, Europe, Australia, Russiaand Asia all came together atTsegyalgar in Conway, Massachu-setts, for precious teachings withdear Rinpoche. It was wonderfulfor people reconnecting with oldfriends, and meeting and enjoyingnew friends. The noise and activityof all these meetings came to a qui-et focus and presence when Rin-poche gave teachings. First werethe five days of teachings onDzogchen Padma Nyintig, orUpadesha teachings from Pad-masambhava - ‘this teaching is fordeveloping your practice, you mustalready have knowledge ofDzogchen....’ and indeed, there wasmuch depth of wisdom and sub-stance to these teachings, includingdiscussion of tregchöd and thödgal.Norbu Rinpoche also generouslygave the instructions for yangti.

The second five-day retreat onLongsal Gompa Ngotrod began theday after the end of the PadmaNyintig. It is always a very specialand rare opportunity to receiveLongsal teachings from Norbu Rin-poche, as these teachings arereceived by him in his dreams.These teachings, from Rinpoche’swhite (v.1) Longsal book, openedwith a more personal feeling asRinpoche spoke about what is pos-sible with dreams and practice ofthe night.

Around the teachings, the dayswere filled with the usual fare ofYantra Yoga and beginning andadvanced Vajra Dance, a very busybookstore, and karma yoga, includ-ing time at the beautiful land at

Tsegyalgar Dzogchen Padma Nyintig

& Longsal Gompa Ngotrod RetreatsSeptember, 2003

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

SCHEDULECHÖGYAL NAMKHAI NORBU

2003 - 2004

2003

ARGENTINA2003 – 2004December 26 – January 2 Tashigar retreatLongsal Gyulus Kyi Man Ngag Retreat (Illusory Body)

Santi Maha Sangha January 6 - 8 SMS Base ExamJanuary 9 - 13 SMS 1st Level Training

January 15 - 16 SMS 1st Level ExamJanuary 17- 21 SMS 2nd Level Training

January 23 SMS 2nd Level ExamJanuary 24- 28 SMS 3rd Level Training

PERUFebruary 9 Leave for PeruFebruary 13 - 15 Peruvian retreat

MARGARITAISLAND, VENEZUELAFebruary 18 Leave for Margarita

February 21 Tibetan Losar

March 15 - 21 Longsal program: Teaching and Practice ofGomadevi.

April 16- 20 Easter retreat

May 15 - 19 Longsal program

June 11 -20 SMS Teacher’s Training

July 17 -August 1 Mandarava Chüdlen retreat

September 10 -19 Longsal program

October 14 -25 Kalachakra teaching & practice Anuyoga system primarily according tothe Terma of Jangchub Dorje.

November 12 -21 Complete teachings & practices of Lhalung Sangdag, the Terma ofHeka Lingpa.

December 5 -8 Birthday teaching and Practice of Long Life

TASHIGAR, ARGENTINADecember 20 Leave for Tashigar South

December 26 - January 2 Tashigar retreat: Teaching and Practice of Gomadevi

Khandroling where we worked onpreparing the foundation for thenew universal Dance Mandala.Afternoons at the Gonpa, Jim Valbygave excellent additional explana-tions about the teachings, includingexplanations of Chöd, Guru Yogaof the White A of Garab Dorje,Shitro, and Ganapuja - we hadmany Ganapujas! Michael Katzspoke about dream yoga duringboth retreats and led us throughsome of the dream yoga exercises.One evening Dr. Phuntsog Wang-mo gave a demonstration of KuNye massage.

There were two nights withspecial Community events startingwith a special evening of musicwith Tenzing Tsewang from Nam-gyalgar in Australia, who delightedeveryone with his singing, includ-ing Tibetan sub tone chanting andflute playing. Soon the floor wasopen for many others to share theirmusical gifts with singing andinstrumental offerings. That wasalso the night of the first of the raf-fle drawings for the beautiful GomaDevi painting by Glen Eddy, theproceeds of which to go towardbuilding the new Dance Mandala.

The other special evening wasa celebration of Tsegyalgar’s 25thanniversary. A bit earlier in the daythe new Gakyil members wereselected. Then a feast of Thai food,with more musical offerings as thefood was being served. John Fosternarrated a slide show of picturesfrom Tsegyalgar taken over theyears. People from different areasspoke about Community activitiesin their regions. There were thedrawings for the several placeprizes for the Baja retreat. WhenRinpoche asked if all the raffle tick-ets had sold and found that manyhad not, he took care of that inquick order and sold all the rest onthe spot! Then the drawing, with

first place going to Jim Smith, whowon the retreat and $500. Furtherprizes included a week’s retreat inRinpoche’s cabin, a set of MP3s ofteachings, a bell and dorje, etc., fol-lowed by a fund-raising auctionwith Malcolm Smith serving wellas auctioneer. And then moremusic, singing, dancing and revel-ry!

After these two retreats manywent on their way and some stayedon. Some stayed to take the SantiMaha Sangha Level I exam; five ofseven participants took the examwith Jim Valby at the lake during aspontaneous outing to Khandrolingwith Rinpoche. The SMS level IIteachings were then given later thatweek, followed by advanced teach-ings for level II Yantra Yogainstruction and Vajra Dance. It wassuch a rich, wondrous time - wewill all be anticipating ChögyalNamkhai Norbu’s next visit andteachings at Tsegyalgar!

C O N T E N T S

Rinpoche teaching in Tsegyalgar Gonpa at September retreats N.ZEITZ

Hello everybody. Here we areat our retreat at Merigar. We

are communicating with all peo-ple who are interested in Bud-dhadharma. I will try to explain alittle what Buddhadharma means.It may be useful for everybody.

People who are interested inBuddhadharma already knowwhat the term means. However, Ithink it is very useful and impor-tant that we are more mindful ofwhy Buddhadharma exists, whatit means and what it is for. Theseare very important things becausein general when people followBuddhadharma they consider it tobe only a religious consideration.Of course, it can be an aspect ofreligion. It can also be an aspectof philosophy or have a moreintellectual aspect, but we mustremember how and what Buddhataught and why Buddha transmit-ted that teaching. It doesn’t meanthat Buddha taught his teaching inorder to create a kind of school orreligion. That is not the mainpoint. But people who are inter-ested and follow [his teaching],live in the dualistic vision andalways have a consideration ofthe different aspects of view. Inthis case, some people considerBuddhadharma a kind of religion.Others consider it to be a kind ofphilosophy. But in the real senseBuddhadharma is understanding,essentially understanding theindividual, and the real conditionof the individual.

First of all you should thinkabout what Buddhadharmameans. We know [the word]Buddha: Buddha means ‘enlight-ened being’, dharma means ‘allphenomena’. That is the realsense of this word in Sanskrit.But it doesn’t mean that we learnwhat Buddha taught about allphenomena. Even if Buddhataught for many lives in many dif-ferent ways, it would be impossi-ble to teach about all phenomenabecause they are all related to cir-cumstances, time, etc. But that,too, is not the main point. Themain point is that we discoverwhat the main point of all of thisis. That important point is the realcondition of the individual.

Of course we know that thereare infinite sentient beings andinfinite conditions of the individ-ual. There doesn’t exist only onepoint in the universe. Takingmyself as an example, I am anindividual; I have my individual,essential point. If I have that prin-ciple, then other people do too. Ifwe discover our real most impor-tant individual point, then we candiscover all [of them]. That is par-ticularly like the Dzogchen teach-ing which I teach. We have spe-cial words for this, “Chig she kundrol” (gcig shes kun grol) whichmeans that if we can discoverone, we can discover all. Thatmeans, for example, that whenwe discover what the root of allis, then we can discover all thebranches, and everything that isrelated to it. Otherwise, even ifwe study for many lives in orderto have understanding or knowl-edge of all phenomena, we cannever succeed.

That “Chig she kun drol” isjust like our eyes. If we close ourtwo eyes, we cannot see anything.But if we open them, dependingon our circumstances, there aregood things, bad things, big and

small things andwe can discoverthem all. It is thesame way if weare in our realnature, in our realessential condi-tion, then there isthe possibility todiscover allbecause everyindividual livesin their owndimension. Forexample I havemy dimensionand my friendhas his. If thereare a hundredpeople, there area hundred dimen-sions, not onlyone. Also if we

become mindful of that situation,then what we call awareness ofthe situation arises.

For example, every day wesay we need peace. In manycountries today there are con-flicts, wars and problems andpeople speak a lot about the needfor peace. But how can we reallyhave peace? We can only have itif we are aware in our owndimension. In our own dimensionwe have our feelings that we wantto have peace, we want to behappy. In an ordinary way we callthis egoism. But even if it is anegoistic situation, it is our condi-tion; we live in that way. So if Iunderstand how my situation ordimension is, of course I can haveunderstanding of the dimensionsof others.

From the moment that theBuddha started to teach he saidthat by taking the example ofyourself, then you do not createproblems for others, you respectthem. It is a very simple and alsovery important teaching. If some-one invades my dimension, I can-not be in my dimension, I am nolonger free and I can have manyproblems. So if I know that, Idon’t create problems for others.If someone gives me a punch, Idon’t like it because I feel pain.Since I’ve had that experience Idon’t punch others because Iknow that it is not good.

That is the reason in theBuddhist tradition that we do notkill animals. Why don’t we killthem? Not only because it is arule in Buddhism but because weknow that suffering exists. If youstick a needle into your body,how do you feel? You feel pain;you are not happy. It is the sameway if you torture an animal, ofcourse they feel suffering. Forthat reason, taking that exampleof ourselves, we do not createproblems. So that is called havingcompassion. But in order to havereal compassion that is alive, notjust an artificial compassion thatwe are constructing, then we needknowledge, understanding ofhow we feel ourselves and thenwe apply that example to others.

In the Mahayana teaching

when we speak of compassion wetrain our minds in that way. Wehave a very famous Mahayanateaching called the“Bodhisattvacaryavatara” whichis given by His Holiness the DalaiLama in different places. Why?Because it is an important essen-tial teaching of the Buddha. Thisteaching is based mainly on [theprinciple that] we take the exam-ple of our own experience andapply it to our attitude in dailylife. “Caryavatara” means howwe apply our attitude. In dailylife, the way we apply our attitudein relationship to our manyactions is something that is veryimportant.

For example there are someverses which say that all the suf-fering that exists in the world iscreated by a single person whowants happiness just for him orherself. That means someone whohas never taken the example ofthemselves: he or she only thinksabout their personal benefit. Inthis case, that person becomesegoistic and what he or sheapplies is the same. That is a veryheavy problem of our human con-dition. When problems arise,what do we think about them andhow do we apply ourselvesthrough our actions? First of all,we ask ourselves who the guiltyone is, never considering that itcould be us. We look for the onewho is guilty and even thoughsome of the fault may be ours, wealways protect ourselves, we amalways innocent. This is our atti-tude. It is something we all applywhich is the reason why we needto discuss and argue. If someonesays, “It is not only my fault, you,too, have part of the fault”, eventhough you know you have somerelationship to the fault, you don’taccept it. Yesterday we learnedwhat the cause of human beings isand we particularly have that ego-istic problem very strongly. Thatmeans that we do not take theexample of how we feel and howwe suffer.

Then in the“Bodhisattvacaryavatara” there isanother verse - “All the happinessand benefits that exist in the

world arise frompeople who wantothers to behappy”. Thatmeans that wereally know howwe feel and howwe suffer and wedo not put our-selves first but insecond place. Inthe first place weput others. Ofcourse if we con-sider things in thisway, there willalways be peace.There will be noconflicts betweennations, betweenpeople, in the fam-ily, etc. So it isvery important

that we work on ourselves if wewant to have peace. We canunderstand how this principle ispresented in the Buddhadharma -the essence of Buddhadharmameans that we should observeourselves and participate.

Many people have the ideathat if there are problems, weshould change [something]. Notso much changing ourselves butchanging the external situation,like having a revolution. Whenthere is misery and problems in acountry, we say there is a solu-tion: revolution. But the conclu-sion of revolution is killing oreliminating half of the populationand the situation continues inanother way with the same result.That is the reason why thingsdon’t work that way.

Buddha explained this princi-ple from the beginning. We knowthat although Buddha was on theearth in very ancient times, not inmodern times, he taught histeaching in a concrete way. Butwe people who are following theteaching of the Buddha still don’tunderstand this very well. Forexample, observe a little what theforemost point taught by theBuddha is. Historically we saythat the Buddha manifestedenlightenment at Bodhgaya andafter his enlightenment he startedto teach. Where did he teach? Hetaught at Sarnath near Varanasi tohis first five students. This wasthe first teaching of the Buddha.What did he teach in this case?He didn’t speak about the natureof the mind. He didn’t teach thePrajnaparamita or Dzogchen orMahamudra. Buddha went aheadin a very concrete way. If he had-n’t gone ahead in a concrete way,people wouldn’t have understoodand wouldn’t have accepted histeaching, because people live in adualistic vision. Human beings inparticular live with a lot of pridein a very egoistic situation. Evenif we say that Buddha is anenlightened being, others wouldhave said that they were enlight-ened too or that they were expertsin philosophy and wouldn’t haveaccepted the Buddha’s teachingvery easily. For that reason the

Buddha went ahead in a very con-crete way. What did he teach inorder to be so concrete? Thefamous Four Noble Truths thatwe repeat so often. This was thefirst teaching of the Buddha.

The Four Noble Truths arediffused in all schools of TibetanBuddhism - in the Hinayana, theMahayana, in Tantrism, inDzogchen, in all the teachingsthat we know, because the teach-ing of the Buddha, theBuddhadharma, started with thatteaching. But even though this isone of the most important teach-ings, those of us who followBuddhadharma are very limited.How can we understand that weare limited? For example, if youread the biography of the Buddhaa little and the way he gave all theSutra teachings, you find that theBuddha communicated the Sutrateachings every day, every year ina different place. But he neversaid that he was creating a school.He never said that his traditionwas called Buddhism or that itwas different from other tradi-tions. Buddha only communicat-ed knowledge, understanding, fordiscovering our real condition,because Buddha was beyond thatkind of limitation.

However, people who followthe Buddha are not yet beyondlimitations; they receive theteaching of the Buddha in theirlimited condition. Even if Buddhasaid that we should “go beyondlimitations”, we put his wordsinto a type of ‘box’. When wereceive the Buddha’s teaching wethink that the teaching of theBuddha says this and that. Thisshows that you have put it into a‘box’ ; you feel that it is the realteaching of the Buddha, but youdo not taste the real sense of theteaching. This is the reason why,after the Buddha’s Parinirvana ormanifestation of death, his stu-dents limited [his teaching] andcreated eighteen different schoolsof Buddhism. Buddha didn’tdivide [his teaching] into anyschools. And later you know howmany different currents ofMahayana developed. All theseare manifestations of limitations.

And we still continue to dothis. Why do we continue in thatway? Because we live in dualisticvision; we always have that kindof limitation. This is why theBuddha, right from the begin-ning, tried to show us how to gobeyond these limitations. It is notsufficient just to say some words,write them down and put theminto a ‘box’ - this is always limit-ed. We should go ahead in a moreconcrete way.

First of all the Buddhaexplained the Noble Truth ofSuffering. Do you know whyBuddha explained suffering, andwhy that knowledge is noble?Because suffering is not onlyexperienced by human beings,suffering is universal for all sen-tient beings. For example, whenwe think about the six different‘lokas’ in samsara, there areexplanations of the different suf-ferings of the Dewas, the Asuras,humans, animals, etc. We onlythink about our human condition.In general, in the explanation itsays that we have the suffering ofbirth, getting old, illness anddeath. This is a very general

Putting the Buddha’s Words in a Box

Web Cast Merigar August 14, 2003

2

continued on next page

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

Rinpoche at his home the day of his birthday F. ANDRICO

explanation but in the real sensewe can understand it. Eventhough we may be very happy, itis always associated with suffer-ing.

I’ll give you a very niceexample. There are two youngpeople who feel happy becausethey are very young, like a flowerwhich has just opened. Theiraspects of body, speech and mindare fantastic! But even thoughthey feel happy, they often haveproblems. They may live withtheir family, but there are stillsmall problems with their friends,brothers, sisters, parents, etc.Then one day a boy meets a girland they fall in love. They think,“Ah, this is wonderful, we canreally enjoy ourselves”. But aftertwo or three days they start to getjealous and then problems ofattachment arise. In the end some

young people love each other somuch that they kill each other.There are many stories like this inour human condition. Why dothey kill each other? This is notreally love and peace, it is creat-ing suffering. Love is also associ-ated with suffering.

For example, when we havenot met our friends for some time,we are happy when we meetagain. But after a couple of daysof being together and talking thenpeople start to disagree. This isbecause in the nature of meetingthere is also separation. So yousee, although many things seemnice and enjoyable in our humancondition, they always producesuffering.

There are some examples inthe preliminary teachings. In gen-eral when we enjoy [something],we it enjoy with our five or sixsenses. We see something verynice and we want to have it, weget attached to it. Then we try toget it and if we do, then it seemsthat we are satisfied momentarily.But after, we have problems.There is a saying of PatrulRinpoche, “If you have a goat,then you have a goat problem. Ifyou have a packet of tea, then youalso have that problem. If youhave a horse, you have even moreproblems.” For example, in amodern situation, we could saythat if you have a car then youhave the problem of the car. Ofcourse, even if you don’t haveone, you still have problems. Thatis how our real situation is; every-thing is related to problems.

Then when we speak aboutour senses, if we are attached tonice things, we say it is just like abee closed inside a flower. Thatmeans that one day there is beau-tiful weather in the summertimeand there are many flowers inblossom with a very good smell.The bee flies around and smellsthat lovely smell, sees the nicecolor and goes inside the flowerto taste the nectar. Suddenly theweather changes and the flowercloses. Now the small bee isinside. Then it rains - the weatherhas changed completely. That isan example of how our circum-stances are - there is nothing thatis stable because everything isrelated to time. Now that beecan’t breathe and may die there.When the flower opens again,

then there is a dead bee inside.That is an example. So eventhough there are very nice thingsthat we are attached to, they pro-duce suffering.

It is the same with sounds,with our hearing. Sometimes wesay that there is some very nicemusic that we like very much.Many people say that music is avery spiritual thing. That may beif you are a practitioner and youknow how to integrate soundsand are not attached to them. Italso helps your knowledge toprogress. But in general we saythat we like music because of ourattachment. If you are attached tomusic, it doesn’t have much ben-efit - you just enjoy it for a fewmoments. For example, somehunters use music or instrumentswhen they are hunting; they bringtheir guns and use the music.

Animals in the forest such as deerhear the music and get attached toit, concentrating only on thesound. They enjoy it and listen toit again and again. Gradually themusic gets closer and closer andwhen the hunter can see the deer,instead of using the musicalinstrument, he takes his gun andshoots the animal and it dies.Maybe it dies enjoying [themusic] but when someone dieswhether they are enjoying or suf-fering, there is not much differ-ence. Dying is always dying. Sothis is an example of how weenjoy sounds.

Then an example of [attach-ment to] the sense of vision is likean insect or moth that flies into aflame. Sometimes when there is aflame there are hundreds andhundreds of insects that come andgradually they burn and die.However, their intention is not togo there and die, they see the lightand are attached to it. Sometimeswe also create problems that way.We also may be too attached totastes such as food. That exampleis like a fish. You see when a fish-erman wants to catch a fish, heuses a small insect or worm [asbait] and throws it into the water.The fish discovers that there isfood, eats and is captured. Thenthere is the example of attach-ment to the sense of touch. Insome hot countries there are ani-mals such as elephants which,when they feel very warm, try tofind a comfortable cool place.They go into the water, into themud and rest there, turning andmoving until in the end they can-not get out and die there. Thismeans that in general we are veryconcentrated when there is someslight enjoyment or benefit.However, we do not knowwhether that enjoyment has com-plete benefit or not; we enjoy andin the end we create a lot of prob-lems.

It is very similar when peopledrink too much alcohol. Why dopeople get drunk? Because whenyou drink just a glass, you feel alittle different from before. Youfeel a bit happy and you want todevelop that feeling more, so youhave another glass. If you havethe capacity you can have a cou-ple of glasses and you will feeljust a little more happy withoutany problems. But you do not

stop. You have more and moreuntil you get drunk and when youare drunk, you create problemsfor yourself, for others, for every-one. You see, first there is a littlebenefit, but then, if we do notknow how to use it, it has no ben-efit at all. For that reason weshould learn to be mindful.

Very often there are thingsthat seem to have a slight benefiton the surface, but right from thestart there is none, just like peoplesmoking heavy substances. Theysmoke and feel a little happy, butin the real sense they are chargingtheir energy. When you chargeyour energy just a little, maybethere are less problems, but youdo not have the capacity to con-trol it. Today you charge a little,but tomorrow you need more toget charged up and the next dayeven more. This situation devel-

ops but it doesn’t correspond toyour capacity or to the conditionof your energy and in the end youexplode. Even if you don’texplode immediately, youbecome a slave to the substance,which means that you becomepassive.

Guru Padmasambhavaexplained this and negated thesekind of drugs. He never said thatthey were something goodbecause, first of all, you becomepassive and for the teaching wemust be active, not passive. If youdon’t know what passive means,observe people who use drugslike some Westerners who go toIndia. You can see them sleepingin the streets and people don’tknow if they are dead or alive orsimply sleeping. That means pas-sive. If you are active, you cannotbe that way. And another verynegative aspect that GuruPadmasambhava explained is thatit diminishes your clarity which isrelated to your memory. Ratherthan developing your memoryyou lose it, and instead of devel-oping your clarity, you lose it. Forthe teaching we try to purify. Whydo we purify? Because it increas-es our clarity. For that reason,using heavy substances is some-thing completely contrary whichis why Guru Padmasambhavanegated it.

So if we are practitioners, wemust be aware and not use thesethings. If you have already usedthem, you still have that tracewhich is negative.

What you should do is purifythat trace because not only do youpurify your negative karma, butyou also purify your damagedenergy. How do you purify it?First of all, with the mantra relat-ed to the five elements and visu-alization. Then there is also somemedicine that we have preparedin the Dzogchen Communityaccording to the advice of GuruPadmasambhava. It has thecapacity to purify. Of course, youcan purify and change yourbehavior using that medicine andpurification. But if you have nodesire to do so or do not partici-pate, you cannot purify becausethe medicine does not have amagic power. You need your ownwish [to purify] and your knowl-edge that the substance is some-

Teaching ChNN continued from previous page

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

When we receive the Buddha’s teaching we think that the teaching of theBuddha says this and that. This shows that you have put it into a ‘box’ ; youfeel that it is the real teaching of the Buddha, but you do not taste the real

sense of the teaching

Mirror: Rinpoche, how did the idea of the Museum of Tibetan Culturearise? Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Where did it come from? From consciousness,since I am still alive. In general people say ideas come from the head but Isay from the heart…

M:Ah, the heart. Was the idea of the museum originally your idea?ChNN: I think so.

M: Will the museum be at Merigar?ChNN: Yes, and the museum will house many objects. First of all, when wedid the inauguration of Shang-Shung Institute and the Gonpa at Merigar, weinvited His Holiness the Dalai Lama and prepared an exhibition in the castlein Arcidosso. It was then that we displayed our Nomad tent and all theTibetan objects from Merigar; at that time we started to accumulate objectsfor exhibition. Also, regarding Tibetan Medicine, we have copies of all themedical thankas from Lhasa and organized several exhibitions in Romesome years ago, as well as this year. That means we have collected manythings – ASIA, Shang Shung Institute, the Dzogchen Community and mepersonally - and now we have so many objects of Tibetan culture to exhibit.I have given them many times to different people to organize exhibitions.We have three Tibetan Nomad tents and we open them to display at theexhibitions. When we are not using them we have to store them somewhereand in Merigar there is not enough space; they were getting destroyed andwe couldn’t use them. I thought it would be better to build a structure wherewe could store the tents and all the objects so people could see them; some-thing more permanent and concrete and they would be preserved better.This was my first idea. Then I thought if we keep the objects in this way weneed someone to look after them and in this case we should build some kindof stable museum. Then I thought if we have a museum we could get somekind of regional support as well as provincial and from the European Union.There are many possibilities especially from the regions and provinces andthey would feel very happy as well because they have a museum to houseall these special objects and everyone could have access to them. For thisreason, we had this idea and I communicated this to Giovanni Boni [anarchitect in the Italian Community who is very active with the building pro-jects at Merigar], and my idea developed and Giovanni proposed someinteresting ideas for the structure. Later we presented this proposal to thelocal authorities and they were very happy and would like to collaborate.

M: Rinpoche, when do you foresee the museum being ready?ChNN: We should have the proposal in by December, 2003 and the deci-sion and financial support by April, 2004. We do not know exactly howlong it will take to build and prepare.

M: In this museum there will be a permanent exhibition of Tibetan culturalobjects, but will there also be information about the teachings since Tibet isa Buddhist culture?ChNN: Teachings are an integral part of Tibetan culture so, for example,there will be a small temple inside like we presented in the castle in Arci-dosso when His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited. The temple will demon-strate Tibetan Buddhist teaching and if people are interested and need moreinformation they can go to Merigar. There will also be sections on medi-cine, astrology, all aspects of Tibetan culture like the lives of the Nomadpeople, their situation showing something concrete using all the manyobjects we have accumulated, ordinary ornaments as well as ritual objects. We have a projected idea to build a round structure with four stories so youcan go around in a circular way and see all the objects. In the center therewill be a hallway and some separate sections like the spiritual aspect, medi-cine and the Nomad tents. This is how we are dividing it.

M: Will there be a space for the history of Merigar?ChNN: No, I don’t think so, because this is a museum of Tibetan culture.

M: Will there be an audio visual aspect to this museum; some museumsinclude films, videos, etc.?ChNN: Yes there will be videos and people will also be able to listen tomusic. There will be a kind of general introduction to Tibetan culture usingsome small half hour films. There will not only be the circular center butalso a place for the tents as well as offices, toilets, and a shop for souvenirs.Below the museum (which will be slightly higher than the Gonpa) therewill be a large Vajra Dance Mandala Hall.

M: Where will the museum be constructed in Merigar?ChNN: The entire museum structure will be constructed down below theCappanone.

M: Will the museum be open to the public every day?ChNN: Maybe we will close one day a week. It is most important to beopen on the weekends. We will prepare everything very well; for example,

MUSEUM AT MERIGAR

INTERVIEW

WITH CHÖGYAL NAMKHAI NORBUTSEGYALGAR, SEPTEMBER, 2003

continued on page 7 continued on page 9

Nomadic family at Thanggan, Tibet E. SALVADOR

4

by Christie Svane

It was wonderful to see so many practi-tioners here, and we wish you all could

have been with us for Tsegyalgar’s 20thAnniversary party with Rinpoche and Rosahere, in Conway, on September 14th, 2003.The party, (for about 200 people fromaround the world who had come to receiveRinpoche’s teachings), included musicalperformances, poetry, history, a slide pre-sentation, humor, and fantastic Thai food -topped off with good wine and a dance par-ty to live music. The only thing missing wasyou.

The flurry of preparations subsided asRinpoche, Rosa and Phuntsog Wangmoentered and were escorted to a their table,elegantly set with silver candlesticks andcrystal goblets. Mark Alston-Follansbee,former director of the Gakyil, welcomedeveryone and pointed out that what wewere really celebrating was Rinpoche’svision, his generosity in teaching us for allthese years, and our desire to truly thankhim.

The festivities opened with violin duetsby Lynn Newdome and Jim Valby, who setthe air aflame with their expressiveness. Itfelt like Lynn and Jim were speaking theirhearts to Rinpoche through their instru-ments. It reminded me of the Dzogchensaying, “The more wood, the brighter thefire.” The way Lynn and Jim played, it’s awonder they didn’t ignite their wooden vio-lins! Rinpoche looked delighted, his handsnow and then dancing to the music Then aspecial guest, Gyaltsen Lobsang, aKhampa who now lives near Tsegyalgar,sang songs of the nomads from Rinpoche’shomeland of Eastern Tibet. His singing,with a special technique like yodeling,delivered us to the vast Tibetan plains, andI felt like the nomad child I had once seenthere, striding alone behind the yaks, com-forted by hearing Gyaltsen Lobsang’svoice calling in the distance. Gyaltsen sangwith such strength and brilliance that wecouldn’t let him sit down, but kept askingfor more. Rinpoche and Rosa, withPhuntsog at their side, beamed with plea-sure, and perhaps these songs brought backfond memories of Rinpoche’s childhood.

John Foster took us down the long andwinding road of Tsegyalgar memories,showing photographs and slides of themembers of the Conway community all theway back to the mid–seventies, before theymet Rinpoche. They had moved to Conwayas a group, studying Gurdjieff’s teachingsand meditation with Paul Anderson. It wasthis teacher who told them that an enlight-ened master had come to the US, NamkhaiNorbu Rinpoche, and they should studywith him. That group was the nucleus ofwhat became Tsegyalgar in 1982. For tenyears they practiced in each other’s houses,and the office was Jim Valby’s briefcase. Itwas moving to see how their devotion toRinpoche inspired them to accomplish somany things over the years, along with themany other students who came to jointhem: acquiring the sacred land ofKhandroling, building the dark retreatcabin, Rinpoche’s cabin, the guardians’cabin, buying and renovating the school-house, and now acquiring “Pike’s Land,”adjacent to Khandroling.

One member of that original group wasBarbara Paparazzo, who centered us all inour hearts with the reading of her poem.After John’s time-travelling trip throughthe “family album” even those who didn’tknow Barbara knew her as their Vajra sis-ter. With her gentle voice and lucidimagery, she opened the space of clarityand integration for us through her poetry(see next page). You could feel the roombrighten and sigh.

From the past and the present weturned to the future, which I had been asked

to talk about. (How?!) I told a story: Oneday I turned on the TV and saw whatlooked like the inside of a great temple orcathedral, completely empty inside.Suddenly a stream runs into the temple

through the doorway, filling up the room,and just before it reaches the high, vaultedceiling, FWOOSH!, the walls collapse likea giant tent. Immediately, they spring backup, and the temple is empty and peacefulagain as if nothing had ever happened. Itwas a movie taken inside a human heart.Thinking of the future of Tsegyalgar mademe remember that from years ago, becauseTsegyalgar is like that heart. Sometimes itis very quiet, and at retreats the floodcomes, to carry the oxygen of the teachingshome. But wherever we live, we arecon-nected like one body, with one blood-stream, from the fingertips in Hawaii andCanada to the toes in Baja California andMiami, and every place in between. Thesacred land of Khandroling is here for all ofus to practice on, and our future will beshaped by the fruit of our practice (or thelack of it). For this reason we are busybuilding retreat cabins, a bath-house, and auniversal-size Dance Mandala on the landto practice together (or alone) on.Everyone is welcome!

Carol Fields spoke about the rathermiraculous donation of land in BajaCalifornia, Mexico, that will be the newWinter Gar. Steven Gould told us howDzogchen West Coast had recently endedmore than a dozen years of being a groupwithout a center, and opened DondrupLing in Berkeley. Judy Daugherty spokeabout the practice group she leads inSalem, Oregon, and their need for morecontact between old and new practition-ers. Julia Diesler filled us in with newsfrom New Mexico; Jim Raschik explainedhow the Hawaiian Community spans sev-

eral islands; and Tenzin Tsewang made hisinvitation to Namgyalgar in Australia soenticing that all obstacles to going thereseemed to instantly go up in smoke. It waswonderful to see these Community mem-

bers - some of whom I’d only known as aname in The Mirror, or an address on email- and to hear what’s going on in their vari-ous Communities.

Tenzing Tsewang had already won ourhearts a couple nights earlier when he per-formed ancient Tibetan songs he’d learnedfrom Rinpoche, as well as his own songs,on an evening presented by the Shang-Shung Institute. His singing and playing ofthe dranyen, the three-stringed Tibetan gui-tar, carries you immediately to the deepblue skies and vast horizons of Tibet. Andthough your heart aches for what the peo-ple have suffered there, the spirit in thesongs carries you above the suffering, intojoy. Tsewang and Rinpoche had recentlycollaborated on “Gawala,” a CD of songsmeaning, “How Happy,” on which thesesongs appear. (see review on page )Tsewang writes about the song, “E-So!”(“Victory”):

“The first two verses typify the attitudeof the Tibetan feeling that no matter howhard things are, the end will always be vic-tory. Always there is hope and optimism.My throat chokes whenever I sing thissong…” After his performance, Tsewanginvited anyone who wished to perform asong. My throat choked, too, trying to getthrough a song I’d written to Rinpoche thatends with “Long life to the Master, andmay we all meet again.” (* see lyrics nextpage) Our sweet dakini soul singer SylviaNakkach got us all singing with her thatnight, and collaborated with veteran sax-man Jey Clark and our young prodigydrummer Jakob Braverman in a jazz triofor the Anniversary party. They performed

a Latin number with intoxicating flow offeeling, and their sound was as rich andsmooth as the best Brunello.

Andrea Sertoli from Chicago spokeabout The Shang-Shung Institute’s purposeto preserve Tibetan culture, and the needfor collaboration from the Community as awhole, to keep SSI growing. Here atTsegyalgar, Malcolm Smith and Will Sheahad taken over Jacqueline Gens’ hard workmanaging the Tibetan Medicine program,which is primarily taught by Dr. PhuntsogWangmo, in workshops, lectures, trainingsand private sessions. Andrea Nasca,Tsegyalgar’s beloved secretary, then spokeabout the accomplishments of A.S.I.A. inbuilding schools and hospitals for nomadsin Tibet. She expressed the hope that theAmerican branch of A.S.I.A. could becomemuch more active in seeking funding, andinvited Community members to getinvolved.

The evening’s grand finale was a“roast” of Jim Valby. It started with WillShea telling some Jim Valby stories of therecent past and ended with SteveGoodman taking us all the way back to acold night in a little bar in Saskatchewanwith Jim on his knees, throwing up, andSteve saying it’s time to find a teacher whocan show you the path. And the rest, theysay, is history. I’m sure at that moment,though we were all laughing, we were alsorecalling such turning points in our ownlives, that woke us up to the need for ateacher, and led us to Rinpoche, who,astonishingly, accepted us with all ourshortcomings. Jim ended the “roast” on hishands and knees, with an apple in hismouth and spouting spastic jibberish. Herewas Tsegyalgar’s scholar, the most seriousamongst us, being the silliest of all. Jim’sservice to the world Community is tremen-dous – tirelessly translating, travelingeverywhere to teach SMS, and spendinghours each day just on answering emailsabout practices. His willingness to belaughed at and play the fool was a greatreminder of the Dzogchen principle ofbeing free from limitations.

At some point in the evening, JohnBidleman, (aka Nirvana John, our movie-writing Vajra brother from the oak-dottedhills north of San Francisco Bay), was tak-ing digital photographs and monitoringthem through his computer, and took aphoto of Rinpoche that was extraordinary.It was so extraordinary, in fact, that afterthe party, John stayed up all night trying tounderstand it. In the space aroundRinpoche, are more than a dozen thigles ofvarying sizes, colors, and designs inside ofthem. In one of them, I clearly saw the tri-angle we use for the Guruyoga in the prac-tice of the night. In the morning, havingexhausted all the other possible rationalexplanations for the presence of thesethigles, John showed the picture toRinpoche, who simply said, “Yes,” and“Good.” Faith in the Teacher is an ever-expanding sphere.

After Rinpoche and Rosa went back toEfrem and Marit Marder’s house to go tobed, the musicians got a dance party going,and people deepened their practice of wildand spontaneous movement together.

When everyone else’s energy waned,the noble volunteers performed thealmighty tidy-up.It was a night for remem-bering, and a night to remember. Howimmeasurably fortunate we are to haveRinpoche with us on Earth at this time, thetime of our own lives. It was a great night,an inspiring night; the only thing missingwas you. But then again, you were there,too. For our Community is a global body,and wherever one branch is, the whole treeis present.

TWENTY YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF TSEGYALGAR

SEPTEMBER 14, 2003

Rinpoche, Rosa and Phuntsog enjoying the feast in the Tsegyalgar Gonpa

Retreatants enjoying the evening in the Gonpa at Tsegyalgar N.ZEITZ

N.ZEITZ

WelcomeMaya Namkhai Ottaviani !

We are happy to announce the birth of Maya Namkhai Ottaviani on November 20,2003. We greet little Maya with the warmth of our love and give her a great welcome.Congratulations to Yuchen and Luigi and all the family!

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

ILet me hold in my mindThis feeling of tendernessLet me hold in my heartHow fast flow the yearsMay I always rememberOur days of togetherness,Let me speak softly,My heart to your ears.

And when I rememberThese days in SeptemberMay my heart open wide enoughTo feel it allFor love’s like the skyIt isn’t born, doesn’t dieBut lives outside timeAnd comes when we call

It’s the arms of the sunsetFrom the path round themountainIt’s the spiraling eaglesOut over the bayIt’s the leaping of whalesThrough the mist in the morningIt’s the bliss without warningIt’s the thing you can’t say.

Here we are, all togetherHere we are, once againLong life to the MasterAnd may we all meet again andagain.

IILet me hold in my heart

The Song of the VajraLet me hold in my mindThe steps of The DanceMay I find you foreverUpon the MandalaMay I always be mindfulHow precious this chance

And when I rememberOur days spent togetherMay my heart break the locksOn the door to its cageTo fly on its wingsThrough the sky as it singsFor love knows no boundariesNo time and no age.

It’s the breath of the windAs She blows through the prayerflagsIt’s the sound of your voiceLeading us through the nightIt’s the moon shining downOn the tents of the nomadsIt’s the faith in the TeacherIt’s the way of the Light.

Here we are, all togetherHere we are, once againLong life to the MasterAnd may we all meet again, andagain.May we all meet again andagain.

Song by Christina Svane

TO THE HEALTH OF ALL IDIOTS“Truth, this is very old science. .science Idiotism.”

G.I. Gurdjieff

Late on a winter night as wind rattles shuttersand snow falls across the field andall the children are in bed upstairswe sit at a long table, candles burning lowand toast Idiots with Armagnac.

Idiot after Idiot – Ordinary, Super, Arch,Hopeless, Squirming, Round, Square.With each toast golden horses thunderdown our throats, flames at their hooves.

We are young and so much about our liveshas not yet been revealed.

We don’t know about the light of a dead moonon a cold stove.

We don’t know about lilies in August,how sorrow pours from their trumpets like fountains.

Tonight we are galloping toward enlightenment,that bright diamond,risking self exposure, reckless, ridingthe freight train all the way to Valhalla.

In the morning we will rise from the wreckage,the fire dead, glasses abandoned like cast offclothes of refugees, and we will standon the shores. Ordinary.

by Barbara Paparazzo

Rinpoche stands in center of Universal Manadala site at Khandroling N.ZEITZ

Here We Are

THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIALREORGANIZATION OF THE DZOGCHENCOMMUNITY.

Some fragmented and somewhat confused informa-tion has been circulating about the Project ofEconomic and Financial Reorganization of theCommunity. Many people are probably wonderingwhat this project is about and what needs itresponds to. People could also have the impressionthat it is a process that involves merely technicalaspects concerning only those people who are occu-pied in specific jobs or perform certain roles withinthe Community management. The Project is actually a process that, beginning withMerigar, the first Gar founded by Chögyal NamkhaiNorbu, will gradually extend to the wholeInternational Dzogchen Community and representhuge growth of the organizational and managerialaspects of the Community. We hope this article willclarify the main points concerning the motivation,method and style of this project.

Motivation

Financial and Economic Aspects. In recent years, practitioners engaged in the runningof Merigar, particularly those active in the Gakyil,have met increasing difficulty and a sense of inade-quacy when facing the functioning of a structurewhich has reached a size and complexity thatrequires increasingly higher professional skills.Moreover, despite efforts and good will, attempts tofind alternative financial sources have not had anysignificant results.The income from the retreats held by our Mastercontinue to be the main source of income forMerigar and, in fact, represent more than 50% of theyearly budget. This not only means that there is someconfusion between the mission of the Community(to diffuse, practice and deepen the Teachings) andthe source of financial support (at present theMaster’s retreats), which is not the best approach. Italso means that without the income from theMaster’s retreats, Merigar and the Community couldnot survive.

Organizational Aspects. The awareness of such a reality has pushed theGakyil to look into ways to optimize human andfinancial resources, which are potentially high, andbring to fruition the experience accumulated in morethan twenty years of life of the DzogchenCommunity. During these past twenty years, underRinpoche’s guidance, the Community has developedand overcome the problems which have presentedthemselves along the way.

Aspects Connected to the Activities. One of the most pressing needs was that of puttingtogether an efficient and complete data base thatcould be an efficacious working tool for planningactivities. With the intention of seeking advice,Yeshi Namkhai was contacted with the awareness ofhis knowledge of informatics.

The Method.Yeshi’s proposal went far beyond a simple imple-mentation of the informative system or a mere finan-cial rearrangement, but was rather an articulated pro-ject that considered those aspects, as well as aimingto make the Association a more efficient organiza-tion to better respond to the members’ needs. Thisproject would make the Association more viable rel-ative to the actual social and economic context of theCommunity by allowing fund raising and assumingpartnerships with other associations. In other words,to live and flourish in society.

The Decision. This proposal, enthusiastically accepted by theGakyil and fully approved by Rinpoche, both on theoccasion of the kick off on June 28th, 2003, and atthe Annual General Meeting last August, implies awillingness towards the change that has to start, firstof all, in the attitude and mentality of those who willput it into action.

The Approach. This is certainly a crucial point and is what theGakyil and the Project Team are currently workingupon. It is fundamental to be clear about needs, aimsand means for reaching them.

The Project Organization. Within this Project of economic and financial reor-ganization of the Dzogchen Community, orientedtowards fund raising, the Community is the “cus-tomer” and Yeshi, to whom the Gakyil, theExecutive Organ of the Association, assigned therole of Project Manager, is the “supplier” of a serviceto the Dzogchen Community. The Project will becarried out through coordination and strategy, iden-tification of tools and expertise, control and support.Yeshi’s consultancy is completely free of charge.

The Project Manager. The figure of the Project Manager is central withinany kind of project. Reaching prearranged objectiveswithin the scheduled time and budget depend onhim. It is therefore of the utmost importance that theperson who covers this role holds a solid and provenexperience in the field of project management. YeshiNamkhai possesses these characteristics since he isactive in the reorganization of medium and large-medium size enterprises, both at a national and inter-national levels. The Gakyil and the President himselfhave complete trust in him.

Company and Technological Advice. The realization of the Project (for the aspect con-nected to competence, not on the operative level)will be carried out by “Ambienti Web Consulting”.Yeshi has chosen Yuchen Namkhai and LuigiOttaviani’s firm on the basis of previous work expe-rience which has been extremely positive, and alsobecause their offer is very advantageous for theCommunity. We have already discovered their pro-fessional value through the educational seminarsthey have given and the support they have providedin the field of informatics.

Information on the Project. It is our firm intention to provide constant informa-tion on the evolution of the project to the Europeanand Italian Gakyils and to all members. However, weask your patience until the current highly importantpreliminary work, which is under way at themoment, gives, above all in terms of clarity, its fruit.

Style

Our Identity. We believe it is very important to underline the factthat the reorganization will not in any way affect thespiritual aspect. The Master is the spiritual guide ofthe Community, who transmits the Teachings andconstantly advises and directs all aspects ofCommunity life. Technically, within the Project, theMaster is the Project Owner. That is to say, Rinpocheis the one who holds the ultimate authority for fixinglong term objectives, defining priorities, approvingthe project context, the final budget and so on. Wethink this represents the best possible guarantee forthe work we are going to undertake.

Responsibility. The Gakyil remains the Executive Organ of theAssociation, with the tasks that have been assignedby Rinpoche from the very beginning of theCommunity. Gakyil members, on the other hand,will have to increase their knowledge, their profes-sional skill and managerial capacity with adequatetraining. They will be first in line in the change,ready to learn the new procedures, accept new tech-nical instruments and promote the change in regardto Community members.

Our Mission. The aim of our Dzogchen Community CulturalAssociation: to practice, deepen, preserve and dif-fuse knowledge of the Dzogchen Teachings as trans-mitted by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, diffuse and pre-serve Tibetan Culture in its profound and universalvalues, sustain Tibetans in their difficult condition;

continued on page 7

6

by Ed Hayes

It seems like you can find almostanything

on MiamiB e a c h .There arep r i s t i n eb e a c h e s ,with warm,clear wateras well asendless barsand discos;you cann a v i g a t ey o u r s e l fthrough some of samsara’s mostimaginative and spectacular par-ties. If you keep your eyes open,you will find what you’re lookingfor. As of recently, you can evenfind Dzogchen teachings inunlikely places.

This October in MiamiBeach, Chögyal Namkhai Norbuoffered a public talk andDzogchen retreat to interestedpeople. Well over 200 peoplecame to hear the Master give a

general talk at Miami Universityon October 9th. The large audito-rium was filled passed capacity –the many students who attendedbusily took notes for their courseon world religion. After the hourlong lecture on the differentviews of Buddhism andDzogchen, Rinpoche entertainedan equally long question andanswer session. Students askedmany profound questions like:“Why are we alive?” Rinpochereplied in his characteristicallysimple and direct manner,“Because we are still breathing.When we stop breathing, then weare no longer alive.”

On the following day theweekend retreat began. Rinpocheexplained the Dzogchen view andits relation to Sutric and Tantricteachings. With grace and gen-erosity, he introduced the nearly60 students in attendance of thissmall retreat to the true nature ofmind. He gave transmission ofmany practices to suit people’svarious circumstances.

Here, in this seeminglyunlikely place, it was especiallyclear that Dzogchen was a teach-ing beyond the concepts and lim-itations of philosophy or religion.Rinpoche was warmly welcomedby Dr. Annette Jones, pastor ofthe Methodist Church where theretreat was held. Not only did sheshare her home with Rinpocheand offer her beautiful parish ofSt. John’s By The Lake for theretreat, but she attended the teach-ing and encouraged interestedparishioners to join as well.

The Dzogchen retreat was not

the only sacred event happeningthat weekend. Annette invitedRinpoche and all the retreaters to

celebratewith herthe feast ofS t .F r a n c i s .M a n yChristiansare quitef a m i l i a rwith therenownedSt. Francis– patronsaint and

protector of animals. On this day,Annette presided over a ceremo-ny for the blessing of children andanimals. She gave a sermon onthe saint and included that at onepoint he gave up all material pos-sessions, even his clothes to pur-sue his spiritual path. During thechurch service, she announcedthat we were blessed not only bythe special day, but by the pres-ence of Dzogchen MasterChögyal Namkhai Norbu. And

she then called upon himto stand beside her for theindividual blessings of achurch full of variouscats, dogs, weasels, rab-bits, and other pets.Without hesitation,Rinpoche joined her andintegrated with the expe-rience. He stood theresmiling amusedly amidstthe procession of animalsand chorus of barkingdogs, offering his pres-ence as a positive karmiccause.

After the ceremony, Ispoke with Annette about herbackground in Dzogchen. Shehas been a student of Rinpoche’ssince the early 90’s and met himfirst at a retreat in Santa Fe, NewMexico in the United States. Inthe mid 90’s, she traveledthroughout Tibet and receivedteachings from several NyingmaMasters. Recalling the sermon onSt. Francis she said, “What wedid this morning was Sutra. WhatSt. Francis did was renouncethings and it was Sutra. But it’snot the only way.” I asked her forher thoughts on the relationshipbetween Dzogchen practice andher role as a Pastor of a MethodistChurch. She replied,“Christianity and Buddhism arenot the same and the differencesare important. The conversationbetween the two takes me to aplace I couldn’t go alone. I onlyget there through experience. Idon’t say that it’s right for anyoneelse but me.” At the end of ourconversation, Annette added withgreat sincerity, “I feel tremen-dously blessed to have studiedwith all the Christian andBuddhist teachers I have studiedwith. I feel incredibly, incredibly,blessed and fortunate.”

The Dzogchen Community ofAmerica and in particular ofMiami thanks Rinpoche for hissacred presence and preciousteachings. In addition we extendour thanks to Dr. Annette Jonesfor her loving generosity and hos-pitality as well as everyone elsewho worked hard to make theretreat possible. May Rinpochereturn to bless Miami again!

Impressions from the Tashigar Nord Retreat

October 31 – November 4, 2003

by Tom Garnett

Afriend asked me to write about“my impressions” of the recent

retreat given by Choegyal NamkhaiNorbu at Tashigar Nord. Impres-sions? My first thought was, “Ohno! She probably wants either anobjective report on the condition ofthe Gar or my favorite midnightparty story, neither of which wouldbe very relevant. Impressions? Iturned the word around and aroundand thought, after a while, that, yes,this is a good word. In pre-comput-er and pre-print days, when anunderstanding was made, it mightresult in a document that was sealedwith melted wax containing the“impression” of the stamp bearingthe symbol of he who could authen-ticate the understanding.

So what does this have to dowith sunny weather, swimming inthe ocean, relaxing with old andnew sangha friends, and seeing theTashigar Nord Gonpa for the firsttime? What does it have to do withan extremely well run retreat withhelp and efficiency amply avail-able? What does it have to do withstaying up late watching Rinpocheand Community members playingbagchen? What does this have to dowith receiving the teachings?When an understanding is givenand received, an impression ismade.

Rinpoche taught The Yoga ofPrana for Clarity and Emptinessfrom The Innermost Essence of theDakinis of the Luminous Clarity ofthe Universe. A profound, clear, yetsimple teaching of how to work

with prana in daily life and retreat.Though containing many specificpractices for specific conditions, itwas far more than a series of tech-niques because Rinpoche taughtfrom the highest view. “Secondarypractices for secondary circum-stances,” he said but to be under-stood within the context of natural-ly occurring instant presence. Atransmission associated with yesh-es zangthal or unimpeded wisdomthat he gave emphasized theimmense background for thesetsalung teachings. Older studentsalso taught the Vajra Dance, YantraYoga, and how to practice the Thunand Ganapuja.

By organizing the retreat andby participating in it, Rinpoche andthe Community revealed a mandalathat is not drawn on a thanka.While in the ultimate sense thetransmission of the teachings isunceasing and beyond time andplace, in our clouded relative con-dition a special situation boundedby time and place may help. Thatspecial situation contains intendedand unintended elements. From themoment of getting on a flight toCaracas, everything that happenedbecame part of the mandala. Theseevents point to that mandala whichis uncreated.

Before I arrived at the retreat, Ihad asked a friend who had been toMargarita before what her impres-sions were of the Island. She wroteback that it was dirty, dangerous,and corrupt. After the retreat, wediscussed our impressions and weagreed that, if it was a little dirty,dangerous and corrupt, it was

wholly self-liberated. So whetherhailing a taxi to get to the Gompa orswimming 400 meters out in theocean with Rinpoche to sing theSong of the Vajra, or stumbling inspeaking to locals with my non-existent Spanish, or listening close-ly to Rinpoche’s teachings, or justsitting in the shade, - all this was themandala of the retreat.

How international it was! I wasaware of students from Peru,Argentina, Venezuela, Russia, Por-tugal, Spain, United States, France,Germany, Italy, England, Austria,Australia, Poland, and Brazil whoattended. There were probably sev-eral more countries represented.Compared with many retreats Ihave attended, the food, lodging,payments, transportation, begin-ners instruction, and general sup-port were very well done. The aloevera cultivation on the Communityland is very successful and severalhouses are under construction byCommunity members who havepurchased lots. Rinpoche looked infantastic health and went swim-ming every day. He was quiteaccessible to students after eachteaching.

But the retreat, as all retreatsdo, ended. Or did it? The day afterthe formal close of the retreat wascleaning the tile floor of the roomwhere I had been staying and, whilepushing the mop, I could see noboundary to what had been given.As I waited for the taxi to take meto the airport, I could see nowhereoutside the Guru’s mandala to go.These are my impressions of a fewdays in November.

Rinpoche & Dr Jones blessing the animals

Rinpoche with some of the retreatants at the end of the retreat N.ZEITZ

N.ZEITZRinpoche serenaded by local musicians

M i a m i B e a c hP e r f e c t F r o m t h e B e g i n n i n g

October 10-12, 2003

PHOTOS/ E.HAYES

Pastor Annette Jones gives khatag to Rinpoche

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 3 7

Rinpoche’s Birthday CelebrationDecember 8, 2003

Margarita Island, Venezuela

Mariachi Band greets Rinpoche outside his house on the morning of his birthday

Singing for Rinpoche inside his home

Rinpoche at the Mandarava practice later that morning in the Tashigar Nord Gonpa

Rinpoche frees birds he was given for his birthday (note bird flying away on the left)

ChNN Teaching continued from page 3

thing very negative. Even smok-ing cigarettes is not very positive.If someone wants to stop smok-ing cigarettes and doesn’t suc-ceed, then they can do this purifi-cation: it diminishes your wish tosmoke and it will be easier tostop.

We have this kind of condi-tion linked to our emotions.Particularly in our daily life, weneed to be mindful about food,drink, everything. Many peoplethink that food and drink are forenjoying and sometimes that istrue. For example when you havea party maybe you drink a coupleof glasses of wine in order toenjoy yourself. There is no prob-lem if you have the capacity tocontrol yourself, but if you lackthis capacity, then you should tryto observe yourself to understandwhich kind of capacity you have.If you have no capacity and if it isnecessary, you limit yourself.

You see, in the Sutra teachingwe have many vows for control-ling our existence. For example,if you don’t want to drink alcoholbut cannot control yourself, youneed this kind of vow. In thiscase, you can take a vow withyour teacher or at some importantplace such as Bodhgaya in India,the place where BuddhaSakyamuni was enlightened. It isa very important place and if youwant to do something [special],perhaps you can take a vow -“From today on, I am not going todrink”. You can take this vow for-ever or perhaps only for a year.You maintain this vow easilybecause you have faith in theBuddha, you consider thatBuddha is an enlightened beingand that this place is an importantplace. So tomorrow when youfeel like a drink, you rememberthat you can’t drink because youtook a vow; it means that youchoose between Buddha or drink-ing a glass of wine. If you areinterested in Buddhadharma, thenof course Buddha is much moreimportant than a glass of wine, soyou don’t drink. And next day,next week, next month you haveless and less desire to drink.Maybe after a year you can con-trol yourself and if you can dothat, it is not negative - you candrink, but in a limited way.Otherwise you will always havethat problem.

You remember the biographyof Milarepa, a very importantMahasiddha, a realized being,who always sang about his expe-riences of knowledge. Milarepaspent many years in the moun-tains only eating a few vegeta-

bles. He didn’t have anything elseand he certainly didn’t have anywine. One day, a Tibetan went tovisit Milarepa on the mountainand offered him a ‘kapala’ ofwine and Milarepa was veryhappy. He didn’t say, “Oh, I’m aMahasiddha, I’m a practitionerliving in the mountains and Ican’t drink alcohol,” because hewas not a slave of that type ofconditioning. He already had thatrealization, that capacity. So heaccepted this kapala of wine anddid a Ganapuja, and after theganapuja he drank the wine. Akapala is not so small and con-tains two or three small glassesalthough Tibetan wine is lighterthan Western wine, so if youdrink two or three glasses youfeel nice but you do not get drunk.Milarepa hadn’t drunk for a longtime so it was a lot of wine forhim. But he didn’t get reallydrunk. He had a very nice spiritu-al feeling and started to singabout the quality of drinkingwine, instead of negating it.

In the Sutra teaching, forexample, people who have vowslike monks and nuns, cannotdrink even a drop of wine becausethey would break their vow. Forthat reason, Milarepa sung toshow that it had benefit, it wasn’tjust negative. In his songs - in thereal sense of the songs - he saidthat this kapala of wine increasedhis capacity to practice more thansix months of practice. And that isa lot. It doesn’t mean that we allhave that benefit when we drinkbecause we are not Milarepa. Butwe can understand that there isthat kind of possibility.

So it is very important that weknow that food and drink are notonly to enjoy but important formaintaining our Vajra body. TheVajra body is indispensable forpractitioners. If there is nohealthy Vajra body then we can-not do practice; we have to go tothe hospital or we continuallyneed the doctor. Even if we try todo our practice, we don’t haveenough energy and some kinds ofillness also diminish our clarity sowe have more of a sleepy stateinstead of increasing our clarity.So it is very important that we arehealthy. This is one of the firstthings in the relative condition.Some practitioners don’t want tothink much about their health butit is important that we help ourcondition in daily life. We mustbe aware and mindful of this situ-ation.

Transcribed and edited by Liz Granger

all these aims will be pursued with even more consistent effort.

Transparence. As already stated, clarity will be the essential element which will helpus to go ahead in this process of change with the fewest problems.Since questions will inevitably arise anyway, we are organizing to col-lect them and give answers as best as we can. We are thinking about aspace on the new Community web site, which is being prepared in thesemonths, as well as other means we will communicate further on.

Collaborating with the Project. On this occasion we wish to remind everybody that it is possible toactively participate in this project. People who have experience work-ing with a company, at various levels, are very much needed. Whoeverwishes to participate can send an email to the Merigar office. The sec-retary will forward a form to be filled out and sent back to her, describ-ing one’s Curriculum Vitae and the conditions for collaborating.

We hope that the essential points are clearer now and we send our greet-ings.

The Gakyil of Merigar

Economic and Financial Reorg continued from page 5

ALL PHOTOS/ N ZEITZ

8

DANGCHE, THANGGAN ANDGRAZINGLAND

by Linda Fidanzia

My first encounter with Tibetwas strong yet incredibly

natural. In September I went therewith my colleague on a mission tomonitor the long-distance spon-sorship program of ASIA. Thepurpose was to supervise theactivities of the various schoolsASIA supports, to train the localcounterparts, to observe the localsituation and to improve the pro-gram itself.

During the two months wespent in Amdo (QinghaiProvince) we were completelyplunged into the everyday life ofthe Tibetans. The breadth of land-scapes, the majesty of the moun-tains and the perfect harmony ofthe environment filled our dayswith a sense of bewilderment andlightness.

During our mission we visit-ed various schools - those ofDangche, Thanggan andGrazingland - where ASIA startedits long-distance sponsorship pro-gram years ago. Placed in threedifferent counties of HainanPrefecture, they represent differ-ent aspects of Tibetan life.

Dangche village is mainlyinhabited by farmers living fromthe products of their land (espe-cially barley and wheat) in anarea where three ethnic groups -Chinese, Tibetans and Muslims -live together, not without difficul-ties. Village life is based on par-ticipation. The houses areattached one to another and thepeople have a concept of privacyand private property that highlydiffers from ours.

We moved from house tohouse to interview the families ofsupported children in order to col-lect information and verify theirsocial and economic situation.Many times I was followed by a

growing number of neighborswho wanted to play an active rolein the interview: It even happenedthat a neighbor would answer inthe place of the child’s father,who was busy cultivating his

piece of land.The school children

always gave us a warm wel-come. With dances and tradi-tional chants, sometimes hin-dered by English skits, thechildren expressed their grati-tude to ASIA. They are indeedthankful to be able to studyand learn the Tibetan cultureand tradition - which is not allthat common place, as manyof them do not even knowhow to speak the Tibetan lan-guage - together with a for-eign language that will letthem be in touch with the out-side world. Dangche schoolhas become one of the area’sbest known and highly regardedschools, mainly for the lessonsgiven by English speaking for-eign teachers.

Tonde county is a very poorarea inhabited by Nomadic shep-herds. Located at 3,200 metershigh, Thanggan school lays in themountain rangeland, where thesheep, goats and yaks lead by

shepherds (often children andwomen) are the only living tracefor miles and miles. The children,often unclean and barefoot,dressed in clothes that are raggedand too light, always wear a smile

on their rosy faces. They belongto the families of nomadic herds-men and can only meet their rela-tives once every six months, forthey live too far and are too poorto afford the trip.

Here the land is wild andmagnificent, almost untouched,and there is no electricity or water(the local women walk for miles

before reaching the wells). Whentraveling at night, the fire lightspreading from the Nomads’ tentsto the dark mountains is breath-taking. Even the school has nowater; ten to twelve childrensleep together in rooms that arenot heated, sometimes coveredwith carpets and mats and some-times completely barren.Like in other elementary andmiddle schools of Grazingland,the children wake up at 6:30AM,eat breakfast at 7:00AM and fol-low the lessons at 8:00AM;apart from two hours lunchbreak and one hour for dinner,they are always busy until 9 atnight.

What struck us the most, isthe serious commitment withwhich the children study: They

use all their spare time forreviewing, repeating and analyz-ing the subjects in depth. Themixture of a carefree attitude andmaturity, joy and seriousness,makes these children special andalso embodies this faraway worldwhere life still follows its naturaland simple rhythm. Faced withthe question,

“What would you like to do whenyou grow up?”, every child,blushing from shyness, openedhis dream drawer and answered:doctor, interpreter, scientist and,in the most cases, teacher. Ireplied, “Why a teacher?” and theanswer was, “Because teachersare happy.” Harmony and happi-ness emanates from the teacherswho devotedly perform theirwork at the school.

The area surroundingGrazingland’s school looks bar-ren; the advancing desert is pro-gressively taking over the range-land, rendering the landscapemoonlike and unreal.

At the end of the mission wemoved to Malho prefecture,where we visited Shala’s school.The people here are even further

from civilization andhave kept an unbeliev-able innocence. The gen-erosity and solidarity ofthe village’s people,especially that of theschool’s founders, reallypuzzled us. A doctor andmonk have devoted theirlives to the ambitiouspurpose of giving thechildren access to basiceducation.

The first school estab-lished with three classeswas built by ASIA in theSummer of 2000. In afew years, the enrollmentrequests jumped fromthirty to one hundred andeighty. As the schoollacks sleeping accommo-dation, most of the chil-dren walk for more than

two hours to follow the lessonsand regularly fall asleep in theclass since they are so tired. Forthose living too far from the vil-lage, most local families arrangeda way to host five or six childreneach, being repaid by the chil-dren’s families with gifts such assheep, butter and other products.The teachers have organized

Long Distance Sponsorship Project of ASIA

continued next page

ASIA’S SCHOOL PROJECTS IN AMDO

Shala’s family during interview ALL PHOTOS BY E.SALVADOR

Students in their spare time at Grazingland

Children attending a class at Grazingland

GAWALA (HOW HAPPY)MUSIC CD BY TENZING TSEWANG

Gawala, a recent music album produced byTenzing Tsewang, features Chögyal

Namkhai Norbu playing traditional woodenflute melodies, as well as vocals in both songand chanting; Tsewang contributes vocals,plays the Dranyen, a traditional Tibetanstringed instrument; and Trish Sperandio per-forms on guitar and keyboard. The albumranges from a kind of archive of Tibetan folkmusic to a “Westernized” elaboration of theseindigenous melodies with keyboard and guitaraccompaniment.

The title song, an ancient folk song ofTibet, contains a simple yet elegant theme. Itis a highly evocative phrase—beware! If youare prone to little musical obsessions, don’tlisten to this tune in the morning or you’ll beplaying this phrase in your head all day.

This enchanting theme carries the firstthree songs on the album. Each is a differentapproach to the core phrase, and they rangefrom a simple vocal to complex instrumentals.I’m left with the impression that with this sim-ple tune, one could wander from central Asia

to China and be welcomed.Recording these kinds of traditional songs

always entails some tension between captur-ing the raw and unpolished character of thework and a desire to filter the work throughour cultural prejudice. For example, Tsewangtells me he was very aware of this tensionwhen the loose tempo of the traditionalapproach meets the metronomic tempo oftrained western musicians. He seems to have

struck a good balance—sometimes the temposeems to be stretching to hold everythingtogether, but in the end all seems “as it shouldbe.”

Included in the album are the songs ofMerigar and Namgyalgar. They are beautiful.

The Merigar song is uplifting in bothmelody and rhythm; it evokes the pleasure ofsharing time and working together with closefriends. The Namgyalgar song seems mellowbut without undue sentiment. Anyone withstrong connections to either of these placeswill surely find a welcome remembrance inthese tunes.

On the whole, the album captures a rareconvergence in time— unique, and open. Itwill be a pleasure to return to for many listen-ings. Those tracks which feature NorbuRinpoche singing or chanting are truly spe-cial—so intimate, one can feel his presence,and the comfort of his familiar voice.

Tsewang includes a web-site (www.tenz-intsewang.com) where one can obtain transla-tions of lyrics and pronunciations.

by Woody Paparrazzo

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 3 9

we will prepare a catalogue whichwill be easy to distribute so peoplecan have some reference when theyorganize exhibitions.

M: Will people from the outside beable to use the objects from themuseum for exhibitions?ChNN: Yes. The objects move;even to the USA. They will beavailable to be rented.

M: This all sounds very exciting.ChNN: Not exciting – that is a rela-tive condition. When there is earth,water, air and we put some seeds,something grows. If there is noth-ing and you put a seed in theground, it is difficult that some-thing grows and even growing asmall seed needs a lot of effort.With this kind of experience weknow how things should work.

M: Rinpoche, can you talk aboutwhere the idea for the circulardesign for the structure came from?ChNN: It came from the mind. We were looking at which kind ofobjects would be displayed and themost suitable structure for that, sothe shape of the building should berelative to the objects we want toexhibit. There are some permanentobjects as well as rotating ones. Wedecided we wanted a shape likeconch shell. Many years ago I had a dream. Iwas standing where the Gonpa ofMerigar is now and then I was a lit-tle below Merigar where there iswater, near a tree, and I heard somesung melodies coming from wherethe Stupa is now, from that direc-tion, and then I went there slowly,slowly and I saw there was a verybig building shaped like a conchshell. There was no one controllingthe entrance so I went in trying tofind the source of the sounds whichcame out – sounds like Om AhHum. The tune was what we nowuse for the practice of the Purifica-tion of Six Lokas. That was the firsttime I heard this melody; it is not atraditional melody. So I learned themelody. Then I went inside theconch-like structure and no onewas there. It was a kind of naturalsound and I was walking and walk-ing and singing and could see out-side from inside because it was allglass. When I woke up I thought,“This is fantastic, I should remem-ber” , so I immediately recordedthese sounds. Two weeks later Iarrived for the first time in Sydney,Australia and gave a teaching andthen went to Mullimbimby where Idid the first retreat in Australia andtaught the Purification of Six Lokaswith Vajrasattva with the visualiza-tion of Om Ah Hum and I taughtthis melody from my dream. Later Icame back and taught it in Merigar.

M: Did you teach the same practicebefore with a different melody?ChNN: No this was the first time Itaught this practice. When we started to think about themuseum Boni said to me, “Maybethere are so many objects weneed to be able to walk up anddown and be able to see every-thing.” I said, “You mean some-thing like inside a conch shell?”,and he said, “ More or less it is pos-sible.” I told him my dream and hewas very interested and said hewould prepare a plan.

M: What material will the museumbe made of?ChNN: There will be a lot of glassand windows.The other we are notsure yet.

M: Rinpoche, thank you very muchfor your time.

satellite locations to spread edu-cation over the widest possibleterritory and travel hundreds ofmiles by foot and on horseback.To foster the school and turn itinto a suitable place for all theregion’s children, it is necessaryto build new classes, sleepingaccommodations, toilets and akitchen. A square meter costs anaverage of 120 Euro and ASIAmust collect around fifty thou-sand Euro in order to completethe works. This amount would letus build a building of 287 squaremeters for the students’ andteachers’ dormitories and a sec-ond building of 123 squaremeters for the classes and offices.The work will have to start bySpring, 2004, and end beforeWinter approaches.

Without education, theancient Tibetan culture of theNomads of this region, and allTibet, is destined to face a slowbut unstoppable destruction.Only people’s donations can pre-vent this.

Translated from Italian by MS

ASIA promotes the long-dis-tance sponsorship of Tibetanchildren, monks and elderswho live in India and Nepalor attend the schools built byASIA in Tibet. The long-dis-

tance sponsorships give topeople with no other means areal opportunity to improvetheir living conditions andpreserve their culture at the

same time.

You can make a contributionof only 278.88 Euro per year.You can download the formfrom our web site or inquire

at our office.

Monte dei Paschi di SienaC/C n. 5622.72 - ABI 01030

– CAB 72160C/C Postale 78687001

Tel: 0039-06-44.34.00.34Email: info@asia-onlus.orgWeb site: http://www.asia-

onlus.org

Museum at Merigar continued from page 3ASIA continued from previous page

Traditional Dance at Dongche's school

Shala's school

How to make donations to the LongDistance Sponsorship Project of ASIA:

BOOK & MUSIC REVIEWSFEARLESS SIMPLICITY:THE DZOGCHEN WAYOF LIVING FREELY IN ACOMPLEX WORLD.BY TSOKNYI RINPOCHE.

Ranjung Yeshe Publications,2003. (285 pages, $22)

The latest book by Tsoknyi Rin-poche is a composite of tran-

scripts from talks he gavebetween 1998 and 2002, fanciful-ly organized into three main sec-tions: Appetizer, The MainCourse, and Dessert, with a Fore-word by Sogyal Rinpoche. AsTsoknyi Rinpoche explains, thereis no substitute for direct trans-mission from a living teacher.However, after a student receivestransmission, reading texts suchas this one can help to further clar-ify the view.

Tsoknyi Rinpoche is one ofthe younger sons of the late TulkuUrgyen, a respected DzogchenMaster who was connected withthe 16th Gyalwa Karmapa.Rinpoche is one of younger gen-eration of tulkus, widely traveled,and familiar with the culturalpeculiarities of the West. This

familiarity with the idioms of theWestern mind, combined with theexcellent translation by Erik

Pema Kunsang and his wifeMarcia, makes the teachings veryaccessible to American andEuropean students of Dzogchen.The book covers a wide range ofsubjects, from the foundation ofthe path, up through the variouslevels of the teachings, down topractical advice on integratingwith daily life. One of the mostimportant sections is where

Tsoknyi Rinpoche explains thedifferent type of meditation thatare precursors to Dzogchen. Hecharacterizes them as shamathawith support, and shamatha with-out support. In both of these thereis a focus. In shamatha with sup-port the focus is a specific object.In shamatha without support“something is still held in mind:there is a focus on the presentmoment. Unsupported shamathais to be in the nowness” (p. 78).However, this is not to be con-fused with Dzogchen. He writes,“From the Dzogchen point ofview, shamatha itself is already astate of being distracted” (p.75).

To clarify this point he givesthe example of a doorman in ahotel. “Practicing shamatha, firstwith and then without support, islike training a doorman to beexcellent. Whoever comes andgoes, he is fully alert. All thedetails are noticed, but he neitherfollows the guest nor closes thedoor on anyone” (p. 80). In com-parison, in Dzogchen one can dis-pense with the doorman because“the automatic laser sensor isthere” which opens and closes thedoor automatically (p. 80).

In his teaching terminology he

uses vipashayana as a synonymfor Dzogchen. “Shamatha is anact of meditation, so it can be lost,while vipashayana—in the senseof Mahamudra or Dzogchen—isnot an act of meditating on some-thing, so there is no risk of it get-ting lost” (p. 79). It should benoted that he is using the termvipashyana (alternatively spelledas vipassana) in a particular wayhere, not to be confused with theway the term is used by someother teachers or traditions.Rinpoche is using it to meanbeing in the state of rigpa.Explaining rigpa, Rinpochestates, “ Rigpa is not an explosivethat blows away all your con-cepts. It is much more gentle thanthat. You could say it is theatmosphere that allows clingingto dissolve” (p. 207).

This book attempts to explainthe Dzogchen teachings frommany different angles, using bothtraditional and novel metaphorsto illustrate the difficult points. Itis a rewarding text to read andponder.

by Paul Bail

10

Shang-Shung Institute a m e r i c a

i t a l y

a u s t r i a

2004

GERMANY: January 5-15Mantra Healing. During Dr. Nida’s visit, two courses of MantraHealing will be organised, one at the KamalashilaInstitute. He will also give introductory talks onTibetan medicine.

MILAN: January 17-18Diet and BehaviorRegistration fee: 120 Euro

ROME: January 24-25Ku Nye First Level – part 2(first part December 13-14, 2003)

AUSTRIA: February 5-15Dreams and Medicine 1st & 2nd levelsTalks on Tibetan medicine will also be organized

POMAIA (PISA) February 21-22Diet and BehaviorCost: 120 Euro

ROME: February 28-29Ku Nye First Level – part 3

KARMALING (FRANCE): March 5-14Ten day intensive course on KU NYE first level

ROME: March 27-28Ku Nye First Level – part 4

ROME: April 17-18Ku Nye First Level – part 5

MERIGAR: April 25-May 3New intensive course of KU NYE first levelCost: 550 Euro including teaching material (text,video and oils)

MERIGAR: May 9-16First part of the first year of theFOUR YEAR COURSE OF TRADITIONALTIBETAN MEDICINECost for the entire first year: 1500 Euro

ROME: May 29-30Ku Nye First Level – part 6 (final weekend)

MERIGAR: June 5-6Final exam for students completing the entire cycleof three levels of KU NYECost: 50 Euro

MILAN: June 11-14Mantra Healing - a residential course of first and sec-ond levelIn a bed & breakfast in Val Staffora (Pavia) withmeals included(7 meals & 3 nights in double or triple rooms)Cost: 350 Euro

MERIGAR: June 18-19Final part of second level courseCost: 100 Euro

MERIGAR: June 20-29Complete course of KU NYE third levelCost: 550 Euro including teaching material

MERIGAR: June 30-July 6First intensive training course for instructors of KUNYE first level focused on developing theory in the morning andgaining some clinical practice in the afternoon underthe supervision of Dr. Nida. Only students chosen bythe teacher and the directors of the Institutewill beadmitted to the course. The training program will bepresented during the course.Cost: 500 EuroTIBET: July 10-28Teaching trip to Tibet for students who have attend-ed at least the first two levels of Ku Nye and the pre-

ceding courses of medicine. The trip will include twoweeks of study and practice at the medical collegeand the hospital of traditional Tibetan medicine inXining, Amdo. Further details will be published inthe near future. Please contact the Istituto ShangShung if you wish to participate.

MERIGAR: September 18-24Second part of the intensive FOUR YEAR COURSEOF TRADITIONAL TIBETAN MEDICINE

MERIGAR: September 24-28Intensive five day course of DREAMS & MEDI-CINECost: 250 Euro

GERMANY: October 1-10Intensive course of Ku Nye First Level

FLORENCE: October 23-24Birth and pregnancy according to traditional TibetanmedicineCost: 120 EuroVenue: Lycopodium Studi mediciTel. 055483463

ENGLAND: October 27-31Intensive course of MANTRA HEALING

ENGLAND: November 2-11Intensive course of First Level KU NYE

ROME: November 13-14First part of KU NYE second levelThe course will begin with a theory/practice entranceexamCost: 750 Euro for the entire course of six weekendsincluding teaching material (sticks, cups, moxa, text-book, etc.)

NAPLES: November 26-28First part of KU NYE first levelCost: 720 Euro for the entire course including teach-ing material (text, oils, video)

DECEMBER 2004 & JANUARY 2005:TOUR IN AUSTRALIA

N.B. Any changes in the calendar will be communi-cated as soon as possible.

Information and reservations:

Milan:Elisa Copello Tel. 0233607505, Mobile 3387027207Email: ecop@ats.it,

Rome: Anna Marie Clos: Tel. 065885142Email: arura@libero.it

Austria: Oliver Leick: Email: oliver.leick@utanet.at

Merigar: Secretary Shang Shung Institute:Tel.0564966941Email: ssinst@tiscali.it

Karma Ling: Tel. 00330479257800Email: info@karmaling.org orlhundroup@rimay.net

England: Peter White Email: pwhite@i12.com

Naples: Email: Fabio Risolo fabio.risolo@libero.it

News about theMerigar Museum(see interview page 3)

by Elisa Copello

After Chögyal Namkhai Nor-bu’s announcement during a

meeting with local authorities atMerigar at the end of August, theproject for the construction of apermanent museum in the areabelow the library is going aheadthanks to the untiring energy ofGiovanni Boni, the project man-ager who is mainly in charge ofthe project. Contact with the localauthorities for the necessary per-missions has begun and preciseestimates are being studied inorder to define the time and costs.Aglobal project is being drawn upto present to individual sponsorsin the hope of being able to obtaina large part of the funds necessaryin order to start work.

In the meantime, we havethought about creating a virtualcatalogue that would also serve asa presentation of the museumproject and could be shown tolocal organisations, foundationsand all those organizations whichmight be interested in donatingfunds for making the project con-crete. The catalogue will contain

descriptions and photos of all theobjects that will be exhibited, inparticular the material comingfrom the exhibitions which havebeen organized in the past byASIA and the Shang-ShungInstitute, as well as some objectsthat have been generously offeredby Rinpoche from his personalcollection.

The museum will have differ-ent areas for exhibits dedicated toart, medicine, the culture of theNomads, the spiritual tradition,archaeology, multimediaexhibits, etc.

In order to enrich the collec-tion, taking into consideration thevastness of the proposed themes,we are making an appeal to all thecollectors in the Community tooffer some of their objects to themuseum either permanently ortemporarily in the case of futureexhibitions. We ask them to sendphotos of the objects, digital ifpossible, to insert in the cata-logue.

All those who would like togenerously participate in this ini-tiative are requested to contactthe Shang-Shung Institute, Italy,which, at the moment, is workingon coordinating the collection ofphotos of objects which will beexhibited in the museum.

Dear Friends,

The Shang Shung Institute ofItaly, with the warm approval andencouragement of our Master, ishappy to announce the start of the“Dzogchen Community VideoJournal”. As the name suggests,this will be a journal covering thetravels and teachings of ourMaster and the rich life of ourworldwide Dzogchen communi-ty, in the form of video.We hope this Video Journal willbe useful to many practitionerswho would like to feel somehowmore in touch with theCommunity and see develop-ments in the various Gars withtheir own eyes, but cannot travelmuch.Through the video, it willbe a little like being there!The Video Journal will be pub-lished quarterly (every threemonths) and will be offered bysubscription. Each issue will bein the form of a VHS-PAL videocassette and have a duration of 2and a half to 3 hours. It will coverrecent events up to three monthsbefore.For instance, the first issue,which will be published inDecember, (see top left, nextpage) will cover events relatedmainly to the intense summerseason in Merigar up toSeptember. Subsequent issueswill cover events at all the placeswhere Chögyal Namkhai Norbuwas present, like the USA, BajaCalifornia, Margarita, etc.,according to the Master’s sched-ule.A substantial part will of coursebe on the Dzogchen teachingsgiven by our Master, but there

will be informal talks as well(which will be subtitled inEnglish if in another language),then special features, interviews,contributions, travels, clips fromcourses and seminars, etc.according to circumstances. Eachissue will also contain somevideo from the past, taken fromthe SSI Archives.Subscribers living in countrieswhere the TV system is NTSCand not PAL (like USA, Japan orVenezuela) will have the possibil-ity to receive the Video Journal inthe form of two Mpeg-4 CD-ROMs of 90 minutes each, view-able on any recent computer.DVD format will also be avail-able on request.The subscriptions to the VideoJournal are open now to all mem-bers of the DzogchenCommunity. A one-year subscrip-tion, or 4 issues, (up to 12 hoursof video), is 100Euros inclusiveof air mail postage anywhere inthe world.Subscriptions can be made nowby contacting the secretary at SSIItaly,<ssinst@tiscali.it>. A secureonline subscription form, with thepossibilità of credit card pay-ment, is now available on theWeb. Interested people are invit-ed to contact the SSI secretary<ssinst@tiscali.it> for moreinformation or read the followingpage for payment instructions.For more information aboutvideo formats and standards, tocheck whether your VCR or com-puter will be capable to play backVideo Journal available formats,contact:Maurizio Mingotti maurizio.mingotti@iol.it

SHANG-SHUNG INSTITUTE, ITALY, PRESENTS

THE DZOGCHEN COMMUNITY VIDEO JOURNAL

(SEE NEXT PAGE DZOGCHEN VIDEO “ALMOST BORN”)

ISTITUTO SHANG SHUNG TEACHING PROGRAM 2004MEDICINE COURSES GIVEN BYDR. NIDA CHENAGTSANG

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 3 11

SSI ITALYDZOGCHEN COMMUNITY VIDEO JOURNAL“ALMOST BORN”

The first issue of the Dzogchen Community VideoJournal is about to be born. It will be available by

the end of December and it is going to be a particular-ly rich issue that covers the whole length of the year2003.

Three main sections compose each issue of theVideo Journal. One contains extracts from teachingsthat our Master has given during the year in differ-ent locations, while another section is dedicated toshowing materials preserved in the CommunityArchives.

The third section covers events in the variousGars, as well as informal talks by our Master, trav-els, etc. Thanks to the tireless work of FabioAndrico, in this issue we will virtually find ourselvesnext to Rinpoche on the beautiful land of Australia,then in Japan, among the woods of Kunsangar and inItaly.

The Merigar summer was literally packed withevents: from Yuchen and Luigi’s wedding party tothe concert offered by ASIA where Rinpoche andTsewang delighted us with Tibetan music, to thevisit of His Holiness Sakya Trizin — only to men-tion a few.

This section ends with Rinpoche’s first visit to

Baja California and his arrival in Margarita.The video is subtitled in English where neces-

sary. The sound track across the Journal has benefit-ed from the precious help of Costantino Albini.

As you all can imagine, producing the VideoJournal requires a huge amount of work and sustain-ing this effort will be possible only with a fairamount of subscribers. We invite all Gars andGakyils to make this message available to allCommunity members as many don’t have access toNorbunet, but could be interested in subscribing tothe Video Journal.

The yearly subscription costs 100 Euros (includ-ing air mailing anywhere in the world) for 4 issuesof 2/3 hours each. You can choose whether toreceive your copy as a VHS cassette (PAL only),DVD or CD. Subscribers living in countries wherethe TV system is NTSC should order the DVD orCD version unless they have a multi-system VCR.Video CD’s can be viewed on computers, as well ason some DVD players of the latest generation.

Subscriptions can be made online by CreditCard through the SSI-Archives secure web site(https://ssi.dzogchen.ru). For technical help pleasewrite to maurizio.mingotti@iol.it.

We thank you for your support and we wish youa wonderful holiday season.

The Shang Shung Institute Video Department

Shang-Shung InstituteAustria presents:International Trainingfor Translators fromTibetan Summer 2004

Margarita Island, Venezuela

General informationThe INTERNATIONAL TRAIN-ING FOR TRANSLATORSFROM TIBETAN was initiatedby Chögyal Namkhai Norbu andin the Summer of 2003 we startedthe first training at the Shang-Shung Institute in Merigar inItaly. Fourteen people from ninedifferent countries met in Merigarfrom July 15 until August 31,2003, and participated in the firsttraining under the guidance of theTibetologist and translator ElioGuarisco. They worked on thetranslation of the new book ofChögyal Namkhai Norbu onTibetan Medicine, “On Birth,Life and Death”. The text hasbeen translated and will soon beavailable in English and Italianand later in German, Russian,French, Finnish and Spanish.The aim of this InternationalTraining for Translators is to traintranslators from Tibetan tobecome qualified for translatingtexts from Chögyal NamkhaiNorbu and other Tibetan mastersinto a Western language. InAugust, 2003, Chögyal NamkhaiNorbu said that in order tobecome a qualified translator onehas to put much effort and trainoneself for many years and onlyin that way is it more or less guar-anteed that the translations willbecome very precise and correct.One of the main aspects of thistraining is to make the translatorsunderstand the real, and veryoften also secret meaning, of theoriginal texts and to bring thismeaning into another language asprecisely as possible. For that rea-son Elio Guarisco will not teachbasic Tibetan grammar and lan-guage as everybody participatingshould have already gained thesequalifications. The whole trainingwill last for a couple of years, andeach year the group will meet inone place and work together for 4to 6 weeks. During the rest of theyear the translators should studyon their own in order to improvetheir understanding and capacityof translating. They will also getsome texts to translate.

Place and date of the next train-ing in Summer, 2004The International Training forTranslators from Tibetan willcontinue in 2004. It will takeplace in Tashigar Norte on IslaMargarita in Venezuela and willbe placed in between the retreatsof Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. Itwill last for 6 weeks and will bedivided into 2 parts: the first partwill be from May 20 until June10, 2004, and the second partfrom June 24 until July 15, 2004.It is very much recommendedthat participants take part in bothparts of the training. In that waythey will be able to attend theLongsal Teachings from May 15 -19 and also the Santi MahaSangha Teachers Training fromJune 11 - 20, 2004.

Who can participate and howto apply for the next trainingThis training will be open also fortranslators who could not partici-pate in our first training. In orderto take part in this training all newtranslators who want to join ourtraining

- must write a letter of applica-tion

- must send their CurriculumVitae

- and must make a written testin order to check their capacity oftranslating. After you have sentyour letter of application and yourCV to the Shang-Shung Institute,Austria. We will send you 2 pagesin Tibetan which you will have totranslate. After your test waschecked you will get an answersaying if you are accepted to takepart in the training or not.

Costs of the trainingAs the Shang-Shung Institute,Austria is the sponsor of thewhole project, the participantswill not have to pay for this train-ing. Each participant has to coverhis or her own expenses for trav-el and for lodging, but there is nofee to be paid for the training. Theparticipants have to be membersof the Institute and preferablyalso members of the DzogchenCommunity. According to thefinancial situation of the partici-pants the Institute might evengrant a scholarship.

Food and lodging during thetrainingIt is planned that the entire groupof translators will get good localfood every day which will be spe-cially prepared for them. TheShang-Shung Institute, Austriawill also try to find good, com-fortable and nice places for thetranslators to stay during the peri-od of the training. According toour calculations the costs for foodand lodging for the participants ofthe translator training should notbe more than 15 Euro per day. Aswe are still looking for the bestpossibilities for all participantswe cannot give more details now.Those who apply for the trainingwill get all further information assoon as possible.

Scholarship for the trainingIn order to receive a scholarshipthe following points must betaken into consideration:

- one must apply for a scholar-ship

- one must be in financial need- and one must attend each class

of the training.ONLY if one ful-fils these three requirements willa scholarship of 15 Euro per daybe granted.

How can one support this pro-ject?All the money which is neededfor this project and all the otherprojects of the Institute comesentirely from donations.Everybody who feels that thetranslation of the original Tibetantexts is something useful andvaluable can contribute to thisproject. In this way access toextraordinary texts of Tibetanwisdom will be guaranteed ineasy understandable language inthe future. The donors will be list-ed in each of these new publica-tions. For more details pleasecontact our Institute.

Contact addressOliver F. LeickShang-Shung Institute, AustriaGschmaier 139, 8265 Gross-Steinbach, AustriaTel.: home: 0043-3386-8571Mobile: 0043-676-3221365Fax: 0043-3386-23371Email: ssi.austria@utanet.atWeb site: www.ssi-austria.at

Further information can be foundon our web site.

COURSE OF SPOKEN AND LITERARY TIBETANTEACHER: ELIO GUARISCOMERIGAR: AUGUST 13-27 2004

The Istituto Shang Shung, within the sphere of itsactivities of diffusing knowledge and preserving

various aspects of the Tibetan culture, is organizing acourse of spoken and literary Tibetan. The course isopen to all those who wish to learn Tibetan, bothscholars and non-scholars. The course will provide abasis for being able to express oneself in Tibetan orread ancient and modern texts.We know that Tibet possesses a treasury of knowl-edge which is traditionally articulated in five maindisciplines and five lesser, among which are: art,medicine, spirituality, astrology, crafts, music, poet-ry, etc. Many of these disciplines are known in theWest but others, such as medicine, spirituality and arthave features that are unique to Tibetan culture andare able, without doubt, to enrich our knowledge andour way of life. Each aspect of Tibetan culture isfounded on the principles that govern the forces ofnature and on a profound knowledge of the real con-dition of the individual, beyond culture and time.These aspects were discovered and transmitted in theisolation and peace of the “roof of the world” byancient sages.Due to centuries of isolation, the greater part of thistreasure has remained unexplored and hidden withina language which is complex but at the same timefascinating. Tibetann is a language we can learn inorder to rediscover the treasures of Tibet.The course will take place in the new reading roomof the library at Merigar and will be given by Elio

Guarisco and Tibetan assistants.FIRST WEEK: SPOKEN TIBETAN· Studying the alphabet· Practicing reading· Practicing writing· Conjugating verbs· Syntax· Elementary vocabulary· Formulating simple phrases· Practicing conversationTimetable: 10am-1pm. 3pm-6pm

SECOND WEEK: SPOKEN AND LITERARYTIBETAN· Studying the rules of grammar · Reading and interpretation of short original Tibetantexts· Reading and interpretation of short Tibetan textstranslated from Sanskrit· Elementary vocabulary of the classical language· Overview of Tibetan literatureTimetable: 10am-1pm. 3pm-6pm

This initiative by the Istituto Shang Shung is the firststep in an ambitious program of study of the Tibetanlanguage which will continue for several years andwhich aims to create specialists in the language aswell as Tibetologists.

Cost: 750 Euro

Note: The course will not take place if there are lessthan 12 participants. Therefore we urge you toinform the Istituto if you wish to participateBEFORE JUNE 15, 2004.

with Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo

Feb 6-8Introduction to Tibetan Medicine$150 [Conway]

Feb 20-21Introduction to TibetanDiagnostics $150 [Conway]

March 12-14 Healing Points on the HumanBody [Conway]

March 26-28 Ku Nye I (Tibetan Massage)$150 [Conway]

April 2-4 Metsa (Tibetan Moxabustion)$150 [Conway]

April 16-18 Introduction to Tibetan Medicine$150 [Bristol VT]

April 30-May 2 Women’s Health [WH] $150[Bristol VT]

May 21-23 Mental Illness and NeurologicalDisorders $150 [Conway]

June 11-25 Foundation Course in TibetanMedicine Year 1, Part One $800(National CertificationCommission for Acupunctureand Oriental Medicine creditsavailable)

July 9-15 Ku Nye II (Tibetan Massage)Bristol, VT] $350

Lodging at the Gar is $20 pern i g h t : D o r m i t o r yAccommodations.Schedule subject to change

For more information contact:Malcolm SmithShang Shung Institute in AmericaTel: (413) 369-4928 Email: malcolm@shangshung.orgWeb site: www.shangshung.org

Faculty:

Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo receivedher advanced degree from theLhasa University School ofTraditional Medicine in 1988where she also served a two-yearresidency after completing herfive year training program(1983-1990). During that timeshe studied with the KhenposTroru Tsenam and Gyaltsen, twoof Tibet’s foremost doctors whoare credited with the revival ofTibetan Medicine within Tibetunder the Chinese. Dr. PhuntsogWangmo had the exceptionalopportunity of extensive clinicaltraining under Khenpo TroruTsenam for four years.Thereafter, she dedicated manyyears of work as a doctor inEastern Tibet where she collabo-rated and directed the implemen-tation of A.S.I.A., the non-profitorganization founded byChögyal Namkhai Norbu.

Shang Shung Institute in America Tibetan Medicine Program /Winter/Spring Schedule, 2004

12

by Elisa Copello

(Taken from a course held by Dr. NidaChenagtsang in September 2002 atMerigar and Dr. Thubten Phuntsog in 1999at Merigar)

In the Four Tantras of traditional Tibetanmedicine, the entire ‘material medica’ is

represented by three trees. The first tree hastwo branches which symbolize respectivelythe natural condition of balance of the indi-vidual at the level of body, energy and mindand the pathological condition whichcomes about when this balance is altereddue to various factors. The second treeillustrates the main diagnostic methods,while the third the therapeutic methodswhich are four in number: behavior, diet,taking medicine and external therapieswhich are mainly Ku Nye, moxa, blood-let-ting, balneotherapy and the use of hot andcold compresses. The order in which thevarious therapeutic approaches are men-tioned is not by chance because if possiblechanges to behavior are not sufficient to re-establish balance, diet is used, and in casethis is not successful, the doctor will resortto administering medicine and finallyapplying external treatment. At times diet is considered to be the firsttherapeutic approach, however, in any case,diet and behavior constitute the first funda-mental curative methods or rather the waysto maintain good health, to prevent diseasefrom arising and to intervene in case of dis-turbances.Behavior (CHO LAM in Tibetan, CHOLmeans ‘use’ and LAM means ‘path’ or‘method’, thus ‘knowing how to make useof one’s own body’) should be in perfectharmony with nature and follow itsrhythms. Thus there are general rules ofbehavior and rules which refer to the dailycycle as well as the course of the seasons. Regarding the first aspect, the main aim isto ensure longevity, good health and happi-ness and to that end it is common proce-dure to wear jewelry, precious pills andamulets in order to send away negativeenergy and impede positive energy fromleaving. Moreover, it is advisable not tovisit negative places and to keep oneselfaway from dangers of every type. The dailycycle gives advice and precise rules onhabitual daily behavior such as sleep, sexu-al activity, physical exercise, rules to fol-low in order to maintain good functioningof the sense organs, ethical and spiritualbehavior which should be in harmony withthe principles of the dharma with whichTibetan medicine is strictly linked.

We will briefly try to examine the variousaspects:

Sleep: it is important to maintain a regularrhythm of sleeping. Protracted insomniaactually provokes an imbalance of the‘rlung’ in which case it is advisable to try torecuperate the hours of sleep that have beenlost by sleeping during the day on an emptystomach.The hours of sleep depend on the differenttypologies, but in general the length ofsleep may vary from five to eight hours.‘Phlegm’ personalities need less sleep,‘rlung’ types need more while ‘bile’ typestend to be average. Under normal condi-tions, it is not advisable to sleep during theday since daytime sleep causes an excess of‘phlegm’ with a consequent increase inswelling, laziness, mental obtuseness andother side-effects that are typical of thishumour. In cases of weakness, convales-cence, exhaustion and advanced age, how-ever, sleeping in the daytime may restoreand give greater balance. In the case of per-sistent insomnia, it is best to follow a‘heavy’ diet in order to suppress the excessof ‘rlung’ which is responsible for this dis-turbance. Thus, it is advisable:

To drink milk or yogurt in the evening

Take meat broth

Massage some specific points on the crownof the head and place a few drops of hotsesame in the auricle. If one wakes up fre-quently during the first hours of sleep,about two or three o’clock in the morning,this indicates an imbalance of ‘bile’ inwhich case an infusion of saffron or dande-lion should be taken.

Sexual behaviour: sexual activity is strictlylinked to the circulation of energy andtherefore, if it is correct, stimulates the flowof energy, while an excess blocks it.Tibetan medicine provides precise rules ofbehaviour which influence sexual energy inthe best possible way without risks for theorganism. In Autumn and Spring, sexualintercourse is advised every two days, inSummer every 15 days, while in Winterthere are no limits since the physical bodyhas accumulated sufficient heat and energyduring the summer months and so there isno risk of dispersing it with more intensesexual activity. Intercourse is not recom-mended during pregnancy, particularlyafter the third month when the fetus is moreexposed to external sensation and duringthe menstrual period.

Physical activity: in this case, too, behaviorvaries according to the typology of theindividual.

PHLEGM PERSONALITY: needs a lot ofmovement due to the robust build and theslowness which distinguishes it and sothere is benefit from every type of sport,gymnastics and yoga. After physical exer-cise, sweat should absorbed with a cloth orremoved with chickpea flour or a similarsubstance. The use of chickpea flour invig-orates the epidermis and improves themobility of the joints.

BILE PERSONALITY: should not overdophysical exercise and should avoid heavywork that could bring about an accumula-tion of heat and cause changes in the ‘bile’humour with consequent disturbances inthe liver and gall bladder. After any type ofphysical activity, it is good to take a coolshower.

RLUNG PERSONALITY: due to the‘rlung’ constitution, sports and intensephysical activity are not suitable. Yoga maybe practiced after having massaged thebody with sesame oil to which nutmeg,ginger and anise seeds have been added,however, in any case, exercises should bevery calibrated in order to avoid excessesof ‘rlung’.

In general, showers and baths should not becold for ‘rlung’ and ‘phlegm’ typologiesand all types should be warned about notusing overly hot water for washing thehead and vice versa, not use cold water towash the extremities. Frequent showersand baths must be avoided in the case ofmeteorism, diarrhoea, influenza, inflam-mation of the eyes and ears.

SENSE ORGANS AND BEHAVIOR

THE EYESTo keep the eyes in good health, it is goodto prepare a decoction of CRISPINO, usingonly the inner bark. Once a week a fewdrops of the preparation are placed directlyin the eyes which, according to Tibetanmedicine, are related to the ‘bile’ humor.The decoction refreshes and reducesinflammation.

THE NOSE Once a week the nostrils are cleaned bybringing salted water to the boil and inhal-ing the vapor.

THE EARSDrops of hot sesame oil are placed insidethe auricle and the tragus is massaged oncea week.

THE SKIN Once a week the skin is massaged with oilwhich varies according to the typology ofthe person: sesame oil for ‘rLung’ and‘Phlegm’ individuals and sunflower or san-dalwood oil for ‘Bile’ types.

HAIRThe scalp should be massaged with walnutoil once a week or more often in case ofhair loss.

MORAL BEHAVIOR In the Four Tantras, there is a very detailedlist of rules of behavior to be followed inorder to be a person who is positive, gener-ous, trustworthy, wise and correct, prudentin action yet bold, sincere, patient and tol-erant, peaceful but decisive, well-liked andrespectful, modest and ready to recognizehis or her own errors through awareness

that the real basis of knowledge is in main-taining correct behavior.

BEHAVIOR WHICH IS IN HARMONYWITH THE DHARMAEvery sentient being is searching for happi-ness, but to leave suffering behind, he orshe has to approach the dharma by meetinga Master of knowledge who shows the pathto be followed. In general, in the FourTantras it says that one must abstain fromthe ten non-virtuous actions and practicethe virtuous ones; in particular one isadvised to help the sick and the poor, loveall beings like oneself and have undiscrim-inating compassion for both friends andenemies.

BEHAVIOR ACCORDING TO THESEASONS

THE BEGINNING OF THE WINTERThe temperature is cold and since the poresof the skin are closed, the metabolic heat isvery strong and digestion takes placequickly. If one does not want to loseweight, the diet should be based on redmeat, butter and cheese. If, on the otherhand, one wishes to lose weight, this is themost opportune moment to start followinga diet. In order not to disperse heat, it isgood to apply hot compresses (hot stonesand compresses) to the kidneys and stom-ach and expose oneself to the fire or thesun, but without overdoing it.

THE END OF THE WINTERThe external cold has increased and so theadvice for the beginning of the Wintershould be followed with greater care, inparticular the application of hot compress-es in order to combat the accumulation ofphlegm which is typical of the Winter.

THE BEGINNING OF THE SPRINGThe weather improves and the inner heatstarts to diminish with the opening of thepores. In order to avoid an excess ofphlegm, it is beneficial to have food whichis bitter tasting, spicy, astringent and it isadvisable to drink hot water with ginger toassist the digestion since the digestive heattends to diminish. It is good to take longwalks and to always dry off the sweat whenphysical exercise ends. One should expose

oneself with prudence to the sun.

THE END OF SPRINGThe sun is stronger and may take away ourenergy so it is good to consume food that issweet, oily and refreshing. Food to beavoided is salty, spicy and acid. One shouldnot expose oneself to the sun but needs totake cool showers every day.

THE SUMMERThe energy of the water increases due tothe rainy season and the metabolic heatfeels the effect of it so it is advisable to con-sume food that is potentially hot. This is theseason in which the bile accumulates andthus one should choose food with sweet,bitter and astringent tastes. It is advisable tosprinkle one’s clothes and the interior ofone’s home with water perfumed with theessence of sandalwood.

THE NATURAL FUNCTIONS OF THEORGANISMIn traditional Tibetan medicine, it says thatthe stimuli or the natural functions of theorganism should be neither repressed andsuffocated - which at times the “polite”rules of behavior impose on us - nor forced.In both cases there can be effects which, inthe long run, may even turn into illnessesand disturbances of different natures. Thesefunctions are: hunger, thirst, vomiting,sneezing, yawning, emitting intestinal gas,ejaculation, sleepiness, panting, crying,defecation, urination and spittingFor each of the natural functions, there aredetailed explanations: for example,repressing hunger leads to weakness andloss of body weight and to remedy this oneshould consume food that is light, oily andwarming in a gradual way. Suppressing asneeze or a yawn leads to loss of perceptiveclarity, headache, paralysis of the facialnerves, breathing and cardiac problems andin both cases the remedy is the treatmentindicated for ‘rlung’ disturbances. To sufferfrom thirst may cause cardiac and mentalproblems and thus to restore balance, oneshould not only drink but stay in contactwith the water element taking long showersand baths. Repressing vomiting provokes lose ofappetite and so one should have smallmeals and try to relax. Not sleeping inten-tionally causes frequent yawning, heavi-ness in the head and body, disturbances tothe vision and the digestive system. Thiscan be remedied by having meat broth, hotmilk and massage. Repressing expectora-tion from the mouth and mucus coming outof the nose causes disturbances to the lungsand the breathing, hiccups, cardiac prob-lems, headaches and loss of appetite. It canbe remedied by taking sugar cane molassesto which ginger and piper lungum has beenadded. Repressing breathlessness after tiring activ-ities can cause tumors, cardiac disturbancesand loss of memory. In this case all thetherapies for an excess of ‘rlung’ areadvised. If one impedes the emission ofintestinal gas, the feces become dry andone can suffer from constipation. Intestinaltumors and problems of eyes and heat mayalso arise. Blocking the stimulus to defe-cate may cause headache, muscular painsand the same disturbances brought aboutby repressing intestinal meteorism.Repressing the need to urinate may causekidney stones and malfunction of the sexu-al organs. The therapy which is advised ingeneral is Ku Nye massage and the appli-cation of hot compresses on the kidneyarea.Finally, to keep back ejaculation may causea renal block, impotence and orgasmicmalfunction. In this case it is suggested totake hot baths, make use of smoke therapyand have a diet based on sesame oil, milk,free-range chicken and good quality alco-holic drinks to be taken in moderation.

Translation by L. Granger

THE IMPORTANCE OF DIET AND BEHAVIOR IN TRADITIONAL TIBETAN MEDICINE

Behavior (CHO LAM in Tibetan, CHOL means ‘use’and LAMmeans ‘path’ or ‘method’, thus ‘knowing how to make use ofone’s own body’) should be in perfect harmony with nature andfollow its rhythms.

SSI DigitalArchives Web Site

Merigar, October 31, 2003

Dear Vajra brothers and sisters,

The Shang-Shung Institute, Italy,is pleased to announce the open-ing of the SSI Digital Archivesweb site to all members of theDzogchen Community

What will you find in this on-line archive? SSI Archives arededicated to Tibetan culture ingeneral and to the uniqueDzogchen Teaching of our Masterin particular. Data-entry work isconstantly going on, so new con-tents are being added every day.The number of records will even-tually amount to many thousands.Presently you will find recordsrelated to audio and video materi-als; images, books and transcrip-tions will follow. Records can bebrowsed sequentially, or filteredby date, country, content type,media type (audio or video), etc.;for more complex searches onecan use a built-in search engine,entering one or more words.

Access to this archive isrestricted to Community mem-bers only; to access the site,members have to register withname, e-mail address, name oftheir Gar, and membership cardnumber. The line is secure: alldata travel through the Internet inencrypted form. This makes thesite safe also for on-line pay-ments, and in fact an order form isprovided through which one cansend credit card orders for copiesof archive materials, subscriptionto the new Dzogchen CommunityVideo Journal, donations etc.

Here are some basic instruc-tions on how to access and use theSSI Archives site; a more detailedHelp page will be added to thesite very soon. E-mail links to

send feedback and ask questionsrelated to the site are provided inthe pages of the site itself.

When you go there, first somemessage about protection/securi-ty/certificates will appear; do notworry if your Internet Explorerbrowser issues a warning sayingthat the site certificate is not rec-ognized, that is normal due to theway our site has been designed.Security is actually very solid.Click ‘ok’ or ‘continue’ to all.Then you’ll be in front of the‘door’ of the SSI Digital Archivessite.

You’ll have to register toenter the site, so keep yourDzogchen Community member-ship card ready.

Click ‘Enter’ leaving the useras ‘guest’ and the password fieldblank.You’ll be presented withthe registration form. Fill it, click‘submit’ and you’ll receive a con-firmation message with a pass-word in your email in minutes. Soopen your e-mail program andcheck your mail. Note down thepassword assigned to you.

Go back to the SSI loginpage, fill the user field with theuser name you have chosen dur-ing registration, and the passwordfield with the password sent auto-

matically in your e-mail by ourprogram. Click ‘Enter’ andyou’re in.

Please follow this registrationprocedure with patience. Ofcourse registration needs to bedone only the first time: with yourusername and password you’ll beable to access the SSI Archivessite always in the future.

You’ll first enter the Homepage. From there you can directlysearch the archives using thesearch field, or go to the ArchiveBrowser page. Some links in theHome page (like Downloads orothers) are not yet active, but willbe activated soon.

In the ‘search’ field you canenter one or more words, in anyorder; then hit ‘enter’ in your key-board and a results page willopen, showing the links to therecords matching your search.Click on any link and the card ofthat record will be shown.Archive cards have a scrollabletext field where you can read anindex of the contents if available,and/or other notes.

In the archive cards there arealso links for audio/video on-linepreview: this capability is there,but not activated for the moment.Preview is limited to a still pic-ture and the notes/index text.

The Archive Browser pagepresents you with a screen with amenu on top, then an in-line dis-play below showing the previewof one record (the first time youaccess the page the in-line pre-view is chosen randomly by theprogram; if you click on the lineof any record below, the previewfor that line will be displayed.

The list of records shown inthe Browser page is limited bydefault to 12 items: these itemscan be scrolled down by clickingthe dots at the bottom of the list.If you want to see more than 12items, just change the number inthe ‘Limit by’ field.

In the Browser page you canalso sort/filter records by date,

country, inventory number, con-tent types (i.e. if you write ‘sms’in the ‘Filter by’ field, you’ll seeonly records related to SantiMaha Sangha; if you write‘teaching’ in the same field you’llsee only general teachings; if youwrite ‘interview’ or ‘documen-tary’ you’ll see only those, etc.).

Media types can be filtered byclicking on ‘AT’ (audio tapes)‘AD’ (audio disks) ‘VT’ (videotapes) and ‘VD’ (video disks).Default is ‘ALL’.

Remember to click ‘Log out’when you are done, to log out ofthe site. This will take you to theLogout ‘bye bye’ page. You canlog in again from there, by click-ing on the SSI logo.

These instructions are verybasic, but if you pause with themouse on links and fields in thepages, more help tips will appear.Experiment, have fun, and let usknow your suggestions to makethe site more useful and user-friendly.

The Shang Shung Institute DigitalArchives Staff

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 3 13

How to access and use the SSI Digital Archives Web SiteThe address (URL) of the site is: https://ssi.dzogchen.ru(if you type this address, pay attention to the ‘s’ in ‘https’).

(Above photos) His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave teachings from the October 11th to 17th, 2003, in Palais Omnisport Paris,Bercy, France. 13,000 people attended the weekend teaching on the Awakened Mind and Bodhichitta. During the week, HisHoliness explained the profound nature of the texts of Nagarjuna. The teachings closed with a transmission of Akhsobya andmore then 10,000 people took the Bodhisattva commitments with His Holiness.

by Elio Guarisco

“We are in the 21st century! Youneed to have modern education.This is important if you want tofunction in this society. You muststudy modern subjects to live in amodern world. But you must notforget your culture, your roots.Modern education is indispens-able but it is not all. It is not suf-ficient. Remember that in yourculture there is something pre-cious: the teaching of the Buddha.This will give meaning to yourlife. That teaching can be consid-ered three subjects together: phi-losophy, science and religion. Thechildren remaining in Tibet main-tain their hope because they knowthat other Tibetans are abroadsupporting them. Eventually wewill gain freedom. China is notour enemy. China will also beuseful to us. Remember your cul-ture and the struggle for freedom.I am only the one who has shownyou the way. I trust and hope thatyou children of today will be thepeople who follow and continueon this path in the future.”

These where words spokenby the Dalai Lama to a group ofchildren in a foggy and humid lit-tle village at the outskirts ofDarjeeling, India. These wordswere not said at the four days ofteaching on emptiness and com-passion; teachings which almostlead me to burst into tears.

With the weight of his 70years, moving slowly but with thepatience and courage of a bod-hisattva, the Dalai Lama talked tothe children while standing out-side the monastery of the lateKalu Rinpoche, under a yellowumbrella and surrounded bypolicemen ready to follow hissteps with complete equanimity.

That was the morning of hislast day in Darjeeling, that beganin the early hours during a “pil-grimage” to various small monas-teries and temples situated alongthe way down to the plains whereHis Holiness boarded his flight toDelhi. Visibly tired from the busydays of teachings, encounterswith personalities, visits to insti-tutions, nonetheless the DalaiLama satisfied the wishes all var-ious ethnic groups, stopping atone monastery to another, from

one temple to another, givingwords of encouragement to main-tain the Himalayan culture andwords of warning of keeping it ina proper way.

It was a visit that left a bigimpression in my mind; animpression that I have not experi-enced for a while. His Holinessreminded me forcefully how con-duct is an integral part of practice.Conduct, which in order to bepart of the practice, needs to bemeaningful.

From December 3rd to 8th,2003, His Holiness gave teach-ings on the grounds of SaintJoseph School in Darjeeling,India, on Kamalashila’s MiddleStages of Meditation, TogmeZangpo’s Thirty Seven Practicesof a Bodhisattva and the EightVerses of Mind Training. Attimes, His Holiness went intodetailed discussions of emptiness,reminiscent of his Gelugpa philo-sophical training. These discus-sions left the public extraniated toitself, but His Holiness did notforget references to more directapproaches such of Mahamudraand Dzogchen as plausible ways.

Sometimes His Holiness gavemore practical advice on livingand took pains to help peopleunderstand the basic meaning ofrefuge in the Three Jewels: theMaster, the Teaching, and thosewho have realized it. HisHoliness introduced the two prin-ciples that underlie the Mahayanapath: unreality and compassion.His Holiness said that people whohave only thought of themselvesand cheating others, create goodcause by taking the commitmentof the altruistic mind of awaken-ing. The Dalai Lama also con-ducted the ceremony of taking theprecepts of a lay Buddhist.

Though there are a few rare,fine masters still living in theHimalayas, the Dalai Lama is theonly one who can evoke massinterest and inspire great gather-ings of common people. To me,this is what makes his role invalu-able, to awaken the minds ofHimalayan Buddhists and helpprevent them from drifting awayfrom the essence of the teachinginto a more and more appealingand overwhelming, yet unfulfill-ing, material world.

The people slowly gatheredin the thousands, hoping to get atoken of blessing, until the lastday when more than 50,000 peo-ple gathered to receive a coupleof initiations: the ThousandArmed Avalokitesvara and aLong Life White Tara initiation.Before getting the Dalai Lama’sblessing, first there was a scold-ing: “Tibetans and others, feelingthat they are unable to understandthe teaching, come in great num-bers when I am giving an initia-tion thinking that they will getsomething very important. This isactually a sign of not understand-ing the principle of the teachingand a sign of being a little stupid.Don’t misunderstand me, I amnot putting you down. I also theso called Gyalwa Rinpoche, Idon’t know very much, so there isno fault of a stupid calling anoth-er stupid.”

The morning and afternoonsessions of teaching were openedby the singing of young peopledressed in the colorful garb of thevarious Himalayan races, such asthe Lepcha, Tamang, Sherpa,Buthanese, Buthia, andSikkimese.

With his usual vigor, theDalai Lama tirelessly taught formany hours and a relaxed audi-ence listened. Even the securityservice of Indian policeman musthave felt different than their usualjob of serving as security person-al for common politicians. Theyseemed very respectful of theevent and even wore red ban-danas during the initiation. Thelast day, hordes of the Himalayadevotees screamed, bustled andrushed to get something concreteto hold on to as a blessing; a pro-tection cord, a long life pill, a sipof purifying water, all below thebenevolent eyes and the laughterof the Dalai Lama.

The passing of His Holinessthrough the ‘land of tea’ left awave of joy in those who methim, a sign of the so called “liber-ation through seeing”: “How for-tunate we are. We have neverseen him so close.”, were thewords heard spoken by simplepeople with a sense of their liveshaving become a little moremeaningful.

ABodhisattva Passing Through the Land of TeaThe Dalai Lama Teaches in Darjeeling, India

14

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

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

m e r i g a rm e r i g a rMERIGAR CALENDAR 2004

WINTER PROGRAM

December 27, 2003 - January 2,2004

Intensive Santi Maha SanghaIntensive Santi Maha SanghaPractice Retreat Practice Retreat with Costantino with Costantino AlbiniAlbiniYYantra antra YYoga with Lauraoga with LauraEvangelistiEvangelisti

(Reserved for those alreadystudying SMS). It is necessary tohave already completed a basicYantra Yoga courseCost: 150 Euro with discounts formembers

JANUARY 2004January 4-7 Vajra Dance Course – Dance ofthe Liberation of the Six LokasCost: 75 Euro with discounts formembers

January 15-18 A course of “Deepening one’sknowledge of the Vajra Dance”with Adriana Dal Borgo

January 24-25 25 Spaces of Samantabhadrapractice retreat

January 31 - February 1Yantra Yoga for beginners prac-tice retreat

FEBRUARY 2004February 7-8 The Psychology of Pleasure and CreativityAn experiential seminar with Barrie SimmonsCost: 60 Euro with discounts formembers

February 14-15 Vajrasattva Purification Retreatfrom the Longsal Cycle

February 21 Losar – Tibetan New Year

Long life practice at 7 am

February 28-29 Mandarava Long life Retreat

MARCH 2004March 6 Worldwide Transmission DayAnniversary of Garab DorjePractice at 4 am. explanation onFriday, March 5 at 4 pm

March 6-7- The Hardest Job Around: On Parenting, an ExperientialSeminar with Gino VitielloCost. 60 Euro with discounts formembers

March 20-21Karma Yoga Practice Retreat withChöd practice

March 27-28 Course on how to read theTibetan calendarwith Rita LetiCost: 60 Euro with discounts formembers

APRIL 2004April 3-4 Vajra Dance Practice RetreatDance of the Song of the Vajra

April 9-12 Green Tara Practice Retreatwith Yuchen NamkhaiCost: 120 Euro with discounts formembers

For further information, contactthe Merigar Office:

MERIGARMERIGARDzogchen Community Dzogchen Community

in Italy/ Europein Italy/ Europe58031 58031 Arcidosso GR, ItalyArcidosso GR, Italy

TTel.:++39 0564 966837el.:++39 0564 966837Email:Email:

merigarofmerigaroffice@tiscalinet.itfice@tiscalinet.itWWeb site:eb site:

http://web.tiscalinet.it/merihttp://web.tiscalinet.it/meri--gargar

The Cycle of Knowledgeof the Santi Maha Sangha

An interview with CostantinoAlbini and Laura Evangelisti

From December 27 until January2, 2004, there will be an intensivepractice retreat of the Santi MahaSangha at Merigar withCostantino Albini and LauraEvangelisti. The Merigar Letter(the Merigar monthly newsletter)asked Costantino to explain a lit-tle about what the Santi MahaSangha consists of.

Costantino: The Santi MahaSangha is a great systematicexplanation of the entire teachingof the Buddha in the light of spe-cific knowledge of Dzogchen.Our Master has drawn up anextremely complete and profoundsynthesis of the teachings, fromthe Hinayana gradually throughall the higher levels up toDzogchen, and organized it sothat it is a cycle of knowledge.

However, since this cycle ofknowledge is not limited to a con-text which is simply cultural butpartakes closely of the essence ofthe teaching itself, it is dividedinto two levels: the level of con-cepts, or of knowledge that can belearned from books and fromreflection, and that of directknowledge based on experience,which one obtains through thepractice. Thus it is a completesystem which has its gradualness– the term ‘gradual’ is not meantin the traditional sense but gener-ically (the gradual systems arethose of the Tibetan schoolswhich derive from the Indianschools in which one cannot haveaccess to the teaching of the high-er levels if one has not completedthe lower ones and where the realteaching is given only at the end,when the obligatory gradualpurifications have been complet-ed.So, to put it in a better and moreprecise way, the Santi MahaSangha is a progressive, non-

gradual system because rightfrom the first level, the base level,we are already in the most pureDzogchen teaching. The Masterhas the capacity to present theBuddha’s teaching at all its levelsstarting with the Hinayana, andtransmit it to us through theknowledge and language ofDzogchen. Those who have beento a retreat with the Master andreceived his transmission willfind it very easy to learn and,most of all, to understand all thelevels of Buddhism, even themost tiresome and gradual. Thespecial factor that determines thisis the transmission – as the flowof wisdom characteristic of theDzogchen lineage is called,thanks to which, whether we areconscious of it or not, we receivecomplete knowledge right fromthe beginning directly from theMaster. That which is ‘progres-sive’ is our understanding of theteaching, which is becomes deep-er and deeper and helps each of usto integrate his or her daily life

News from the Merigar GakyilNew Director: Sergio Quaranta New Vice Director: Pia Barilli

Zhenphenling Dzogchen Community of Rome - Italy

Collective practicesare organized at Zhenphenling, according to the Tibetan calendar.

Vajra Dance is usually practiced before Ganapujas, as well as on specific days.Course: Dance of the Song of the Vajra with Adriana dal Borgo

10-11 January 2004, 31 January – 1 February, 21-22 February, 6-7March

Yantra YogaCourses: weekly courses for beginners and advanced

with Sergio Quaranta,Yantra Yoga for beginners with Laura Evangelisti

October 18-19 , November 15-16, December 6-7, January 17-182004

The Rome Dzogchen Community will be happy to welcome practi-tioners from other cities.

For information call 0039-06-57300346 or emailto:zhenphenling@tiscali.it

Address: Zhenphenling, Via G. Miani 5, 00154 Rome, Italy ( MetroPiramide )

continued on next page

DZOGCHEN COMMUNITY MEMBERSHIP2004

by the Merigar Yellow Gakyil

Dear members and friends,

In this issue of The Mirror and the Merigar LetterEurope, we are publishing information that will helpyou to renew your membership in 2004 or to becomea new member.We would like to thank all the people who haveanswered our appeals so promptly in the past and wehope that in 2004 the number of members will con-tinue to increase in order to support the wholeDzogchen Community.Rinpoche has often emphasized the value ofCommunity membership as a symbol of our com-mitment towards the teaching. To support theCommunity is a personal act of responsibility andrespect towards the Precious Teachings that we havebeen receiving for so many years. It is a way to guar-antee that the very generous commitment of OurBeloved Master, in his infinite patience and compas-sion, so Rinpoche can continue in time and space forthe benefit and realization of all human beings.Therefore it is very important to renew Communitymembership every year. It is a moment of participa-tion and a way of giving one’s support to the evolu-tion of the Community. People with financial problems and find difficulty inpaying their membership can contact their localGakyil (letter, email, phone, etc.) to find a possiblesolution. However, it is important that all peopletruly interested in the Teaching should become mem-bers.Payment can be made in installments to help peopleon a low income but with a real commitment. Thereare also special membership fees for seniors and stu-dents who may have financial difficulties. Seniorsand students who do not have financial problemsshould not apply for this special membershipbecause the principle is to give according to eachperson’s resources rather than their status. We sug-gest that you always contact your local Gakyil forany problems, even temporary ones, which you mayhave in order to pay your membership.The Gakyil will help you to write a letter to theMaster explaining the reason why you are not able topay for membership and ask for facilities. This is theoption the Community offers to people goingthrough great hardships; the point is not to have a setrule for all the problems, but resolving each casedepending on the circumstances and on the aware-ness of the person.

MembershipBasic member per year 185 EuroSustaining member per year 390 EuroStudent/senior member per year 52 EuroGood Service member per year 2,000 US$

Discount for a second relative and senior: 30 %

Basic membership with 30% discount per year 130 EuroSustaining member per year270 Euro

Membership payments can be made at one time ordivided intoinstallments:- monthly- quarterly- six-monthly

Payment can be made as follows:

1) Postal money order toComunita Dzogchen, I 58031 Arcidosso GR ItalyPlease, remember to specify the reason of payment

2) Bank draft to the following bank:Monte dei Paschi di Siena, PS, Arcidosso branch,58031 Arcidosso GR, ItalyAccount number: 3120.29 Comunita DzogchenEuropean bank coordinates: IBAN IT 64 N0103072160 000000312029BIC/SWIFT: PASCITMMGRO Please, remember to specify the reason of payment

3) Postal transfer to:Post office account number: 10445583, ComunitaDzogchen. Please, remember to specify the reason ofpayment

4) By cash or check to your local yellow Gakyil orMerigar.

Discounts for members:

Basic member -20 % discount on retreats and seminars.

Santi Maha Sangha, Vajra Dance and Yantra Yogatraining are not included.

Sustaining member - 40 % discount on retreats and seminars.

Santi Maha Sangha, Vajra Dance and Yantra Yogatraining are not included.

Student/senior member - 50% discount on retreatsand seminars.

Santi Maha Sangha, Vajra Dance and Yantra Yogatraining are not included.

Good Service member -100% discount

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 3 15

e u r o p ee u r o p einto this knowledge. This, weknow, is the aim of eachDzogchen practitioner.

Merigar Letter: What is the dif-ference between simply follow-ing the Master’s retreats anddevoting oneself to the study ofthe Santi Maha Sangha?Costantino: The Santi MahaSangha is an extremely efficientinstrument which provides a sys-tem, a method, for cultivating ourcapacity to understand. If we startto study the base of the SMS –and studying doesn’t mean onlylearning by heart but making itour own, taking each teachinginto our own lives – then rightfrom the beginning we learn howthe life of a Dzogchen practition-er should be. The mechanism of aretreat produces an very strongand spontaneous feeling ofinvolvement, but often, when wego back home, we fall back intoour usual habits, and even thoughwe have received fundamentalinstructions from the Master onhow to behave, it is very easy thatwe gradually forget them and fallback into distraction. So, in ordernot to get distracted from the aimof a Dzogchen practitioner –which is precisely that of practic-ing Dzogchen, or transformingthe entire day into a Dzogchenpractice – the powerful method ofthe SMS which has been given tous with great compassion by theMaster, it is without doubt thebest. It is a method that he hasgiven to his Western disciples; itis not a system that was created inTibet hundreds or years ago andimported into the West. It wasmade to measure for us and forthe problems that are characteris-tic of our mind and our era. It issystem for learning how to reallyintegrate daily life into the teach-ing.

Merigar Letter: What does theChristmas retreat consist of?Costantino: Principally it will apractice retreat. That doesn’tmean that it won’t be possible tohave question and answer ses-sions on more varied topics. Butfundamentally I am interested inclarifying some of the base prac-tices which many people do notknow very well or do not knowhow to do. These practice are thesecret Rushen and the SeventhLojong. What I intend to do ispoint out the function of YantraYoga for those who wish to prac-tice kumbhaka since some of thepractices such as the SeventhLojong are founded precisely onthis.

Merigar Letter: Is this retreat

interview continued from previous page

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

only for those who are alreadystudying the SMS base or canpeople who know nothing aboutit participate?Costantino: It would be better ifthe people who wish to partici-pate, even if they are not yetstudying the base, had at least aserious intention to start, and thatonce they have learned this typeof practice, commit themselves toputting it into practice instead ofleaving it in their notebooks.These exercises and practices arevery important for inducing par-ticular experiences which helpour understanding. It is importantthat when we have these experi-ences that we do not limit or con-dition ourselves but that we areable to govern them. There are two practices I want toconcentrate sessions of practiceon: one is the rushen that belongsto the first testament of GarabDorje, to the direct introduction;and the seventh lojong for notremaining in doubt which, likethe Semdzin, is a practice forinducing experiences – and thisleads us to the second testamentof Garab Dorje.I would like to emphasize thatYantra Yoga is not a system forphysical well-being – like theIndian yoga which has beenbrought to the West – but a sys-tem strictly linked to the teachingand with which it shares a com-mon aim, realization. Thus evenif those who practice Yantra havebetter health and a more flexiblebody, the most important effectsof this practice are control of theprana and the experiences linkedto it with the aim of integratingthem with knowledge. YantraYoga is part of the Dzogchenteaching.

Merigar Letter: Will there beexplanations about what practicesare required for the Base of theSMS during the retreat?Costantino: I can certainly givethose explanations as well. Ofcourse, we have to consider howto organise our schedule. I intendto do four Thuns of practice a day,starting in the morning at eighto’clock.

Merigar Letter: Now we wouldlike to ask Laura Evangelisti totell us about the relationshipbetween the SMS and YantraYoga.Laura: Yantra Yoga is an integralpart of the SMS base. First of allbecause we work with body,voice and mind in order to arriveat a condition of coordinating theenergy and relaxation, conditionswhich are indispensable for find-ing the state of contemplation.

Secondly, Yantra is the onlymethod for having knowledge ofkumbhaka which is essential inorder to do many of the practicesof the SMS.

Merigar Letter: Can you explainbriefly what kumbhaka consistsof?Laura: Kumbhaka is a termwhich literally means ‘vase hold-ing’ and is a technique or methodwhich consists of holding thebreath, pushing it downwards and‘closing’ it below the navel, thusallowing us to concentrate theprana to the utmost.Many practitioners have a kind offantasy about kumbhaka. Theyhear people speak about it andthink that it is something fantasticthat should be learned as soon aspossible. They think that it is pos-sible to do this without havingknowledge of the base of YantraYoga. Actually the function ofYantra Yoga is really to arrive athaving control over all aspects ofthe breathing. I think it is verydifficult to know how to applykumbhaka without having mas-tery over all the different phasesof breathing or without knowinghow to perfectly coordinate inhal-ing and exhaling, let alone havingexperience of the various types ofholding the breath. Kumbhaka isactually something very complexwhich should be learned gradual-ly and with great precision.

Merigar Letter: So should thosepeople who participate in theretreat already have good knowl-edge of Yantra Yoga?Laura: We have requested thatpeople who wish to participateshould have followed a course ofthe base of Yantra Yoga or thatthey know at least the eightmovements. In fact the lungsang(the eight movements) are usefulfor having experience of all theaspects of the breathing – or thedifferent ways of inhaling, exhal-ing and holding the breath – com-bined with movement. This expe-rience of the base should then beinvestigated thoroughly and thisis what we will try to do duringthe retreat, practising also therhythmic breathing which is nec-essary to develop our capacity ofholding the breath.

Merigar Letter: We give ourbest wishes for a successfulretreat and thank Laura andCostantino for the patience andcare with which they have trans-mitted their precious knowledge.

Lucia Antonelli for the MerigarLetter

Translated by Liz Granger.

VAJRA DANCE COURSE in VENICE with PRIMA MAI

We are pleased to give you the opportunity to begin the New Year2004, with a Vajra Dance Course with Prima Mai in Venice, Italy.

January 1st will be a collective practice and the course will start Janu-ary 2nd, in the afternoon at 4:00PM and end January 6th, at 18:00PM.The course will be a review for the new movements of the Three VajraDance, Dance of the Purification of Six Lokas and the Vajra Dance ofthe Song of Vajra. The cost is 100 Euro.We have a flat with 6 beds for practitioners. The special price forVenice in this period is Euro 18 per night and you can also use thekitchen and there is nearby a supermarket. You can have a look at theflat on web site <www.venexiahome.com>. The apartment design isZattere.

For information please contact:Giuliana Giromella: giuligiro@libero.it

Tel 0422331241; cell 3401473878Lucia Boschetto: lucia.boschetto@venexiahome.com

Tel: 0412759126; cell 3355291565

Vajra Dance Courses & Retreats in FranceJanuary - February, 2004with Stoffelina Verdonk & Adriana dal Borgo

JANUARY 2 - 7, 2004Course of the Dance of SONG OF VAJRAFirst part with Stoffelina VerdonkDejamling (DC’s center in the South France)Course Cost: 192 Euro with - 30% for DC’s members

FEBRUARY 3 - 9, 2004Course of the Dance of SONG OF VAJRAPart 2 with Stoffelina Verdonk & Adriana dal Borgo (supervision)Dejamling

February 10 - Day of the Dance of Song of Vajra practice

Course Cost: 224 Euro with - 30% for DC’s members

Vajra Dance Beginners’ Course in Wales UK,Easter 2004with Stoffelina Verdonk

The UK Dzogchen community is pleased to announce that StoffelinaVerdonk will be teaching the first part of the Dance of the Vajra onour new Mandala at Kunselling, Brecon, Wales.The course lasts seven full days (six days of teaching, 2 sessions perday, plus one day of practice followed by Ganapuja) from Friday,April 9 to Thursday, April 15, 2004.Cost: 220 Euros or 176 Euros for Dzogchen Community members(£150 or £120 )Registration: Please send non-refundable deposit of 40 Euros (£27)to:Rowan Wylie, 29 Almoners Avenue, Cambridge, CB1 8NZ, UKCheques should be made payable to: Dzogchen Community UKPlaces are limited to twenty: ten learning the female and ten themalepart.Any queries please refer to rowanwylie@hotmail.comor call 0044 (0)1223 473 528

N E W G A K Y I L L i t h u a n i a

Blue - Mantrimas Danielius, Email: man333@takas.ltMob.ph. +370 688 51906

Red - Algis LukoseviciusEmail: lundazz@centras.ltMob.ph. +370 614 18056

Yellow - Solveiga MarcinkeviciuteEmail: solveiga.m@centras.ltMob.ph. +370 610 02625

Erika MiskeleviciuteEmail: miserika@hotmail.com

NEW GAKYILS IN AUSTRIA

New Gakyil Styria/Tirol

Blue: Siegi Schwaiger Email: siegi.schwaiger@utanet.at

Red: Gabi Leik No email yet

Yellow: Oliver Gstöttner Email: oliver.gstoettner@chello.at

New Gakyil ViennaEmail: dzogchen.wien@gmx.at

Blue - Ursula Kogler - kogler.dr@chello.at

Red - Sabine Böhm - sabiboe@hotmail.com

Yellow - Hannes Binder - hannesbinder@hot-mail.com

Yellow assistant - Peter Sochor - p.sochor@gmx.at

k u n s a nk u n s a n g a rg a rNew Yellow Gakyil Member in Kunsangar:

Igor Magafuroff

16

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

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

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

KunsellingMountain Retreat Center in theUK by Catriona Mundle

Kunselling, the place of total luminosity,is the UK’s retreat center in Wales. Sit-

uated in a mountainous secluded region, itadjoins thousands of acres of common landand enjoys magnificent views. Our belovedMaster, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, visited itin 1998 and stayed in the farmhouse. Sincethat time we have been working on thedesign and development of the barn andoutbuildings.

After so many years, at last this projectis virtually complete. At the end of August,we held a party in the barn at Kunselling tocelebrate the completion of the buildingwork. The builders were officially leaving,and the architect, builders and all who hadbeen involved in the project were invited tojoin with our wonderful neighbors and our-selves to celebrate in the converted barnwhich will be our Gonpa. A spectaculardouble rainbow formed in the evening sun-light as we ate, talked and listened to relax-ing tapes of Rinpoche’s music. Later as itgrew dark, with Francis Vine as Frankie deVine the DJ, the dancing began. Outsideunder the stars others gathered around abonfire. There was a real sense of affectionand warmth amongst all present, combinedwith pride for what we had achieved.

Our much loved farmhouse, which hasbeen used for individual retreats and col-lective practices, remains unchanged, apartfrom the mud and dust which had accumu-lated during the year when it was adjoininga building site. Nothing that a good springclean and some practice did not disperse. Inthe courtyard, what had once been anuneven sloping patch of weeds and nettlesenclosed by a derelict barn, our former coalshed, and disused outhouses, is now animposing curved stone wall, with a rampspiraling around it to a courtyard contain-ing the Mandala (still to be painted).Mountains of earth have been moved tosculpture this plateau. The Mandala lies atthe heart of the design and forms a naturalcourtyard which traps the sun’s heat in

summer. From here, and the new largeFrench windows of the barn we have a newexperience of the surrounding landscape -at which, itseemed - onehad never real-ly looked orseen before.Above and par-allel to the lineof the housebelow are fourretreat cabins(one for darkretreat), with acovered walk-way like clois-ters. Thoughthey are not large, they seem and feel sur-prisingly spacious with large rear windowsframing our magnificent beech tree.

We are extremely fortunate in ourneighbors, the Davies family who farmdown the road. They are like our protec-tors; always kind to us and come and helpwhen things break down. They could andwould warn us if anything untoward hap-pened. We drive through their courtyard toget to Kunselling, taking care not to rundown their ancient over-welcoming dogs.During the foot and mouth epidemic theelderly couple, Ted and Grace, held prayermeetings every day; their farm remainedclear. The Welsh name of their son’s farm-house translates as ‘under the rainbow’. Soit was especially nice that the children andgrandchildren came and enjoyed our party,and that more of us got to know each otherby name.

However things do not run on euphoriaalone. There is still work to be done. Weundertook to do the decorating and finish-ing ourselves to save on costs, and areorganizing karma yoga weekends for this.There are still some hitches and glitches tobe rectified: the Land Committee havekindly agreed to extend their period ofresponsibility until the end of the twelvemonth ‘snagging period’ during which timedefects can be corrected. Meanwhile thepainting is almost complete, the luxuriousunder floor heating system is working, and

the wooden floors will be laid in mid-December.

We are ordering an inflatable dome forthe Mandala toprotect dancersfrom the windand weather andlook forward to aVajra DanceRetreat withS t o f f e l i n aVerdonk nextEaster. TheMandala hasalready been ini-tiated in a sense,for some enthusi-astic dancers

chalked it out during a weekend anddanced ecstatically. Its construction stagewas marked by doubts and difficulty asengineers procrastinated and changed theirrecipes for avoiding future cracking causedby settlement and subsidence. The Welshbuilders working on it were observed to beunusually happy, and sang a lot.

Next spring, landscaping will continuewith sowing wildflower seeds on the earthwhich has been moved, for effect and tobind it. Over the winter we will do sometree planting. We need to finalize fencingarrangements in such a way that our neigh-bors can continue to enjoy grazing rights inour meadow, without their sheep eating ourlovely wildflowers and kitchen herbs. (It istrue actually that sheep have memories forfaces: I felt very friendly towards themonce when I was retreating there on myown, and the next time I visited a fewmonths later they ran up towards me andfollowed me around, rather than runningaway as is normal.) A team is alreadyworking on planting the area around theMandala and besides the new meditationGonpa.

We have a caravan in an upper field forpeople who like greater isolation, completewith heating , which we plan to shield witha surrounding hedge. There is also a newraised landscaped mound by the gate withwonderful views of the Black Mountains,ideal for camping or for a yurt. The chil-

dren built a play house like a ‘bender’ (askeletal tent made of bent twigs). Standinghere gives a very strong feeling of heavenand earth, and naked elements. This patchof still naked-earth is hardly an eagle’snest, but is a vantage point which is anaddition to the landscape.

We owe a great deal not only to theLand Committee, who have spent years onthis project, but to all the people who haveand still are giving their time and practicalskills and have masterminded the project.Not a few people have felt deterred by thedifficulty of running the coal burning boil-er in the house. Welsh cottages are alwayscentered around such a stove, but as thatlifestyle is not familiar to most city peopleit will be changed sooner or later to a moremodern central heating system. Thanks tothose who have already made donationstowards items such as the central heatingfund, the Mandala dome, a new cooker,tree surgery and wild flower seeds..

Indeed we still need to raise moremoney. The retreat cabins need beds andblinds. The farmhouse needs a new cooker,gas central heating and a conservatory toaccommodate larger numbers for dining.We would therefore appreciate any help orsupport you could give us to complete thiswork. Please contact the Yellow Gakyil(see web site address below)

We are now planning in earnest for2004. A Vajra Dance course with StoffelinaVerdonk is scheduled for Easter with a fol-low-up course later in the year. JohnRenshaw will run a Yantra Yoga course inMay, and there is a Ku Nye course with Dr.Nida in November. We can also look for-ward to gathering at Kunselling for futurevideo transmissions, collective practicesessions with the greater possibility forindividual retreats, including dark retreatsand karma yoga periods. Wonderful!Of course we all hope that Rinpoche willvisit and bless our new Gonpa. This will bethe Great Completion.

{for further details see our web site:www.redsandstonehill.net/dzogchen/)

Practice Weekends & Gakyil Meetings at Tsegyalgar

Next one: January 16-18, 2004

If you would like to lead a practice weekend, please let us know.

Tsegyalgar, The Dzogchen Community in AmericaP.O. Box 277, Conway, MA 01341Tel: 413-369-4153 | Fax: 413-369-4473email: secretary@tsegyalgar.orgbluegakyil@tsegyalgar.org

Visit us at: http://www.tsegyalgar.org

NEW BLUES AT TSEGYALGAR

TWO New Blue Gakyil members are Paola Zamperini and Neil Murray.

Tsegyalgar Email Addresses UpdatePlease note

This is a reminder to everyone that you should use the following emailaddress ONLY for the Tsegyalgar office: secretary@tsegyalgar.org.*Please discontinue to send email via dzogchenusa@compuserve.com.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING NEW EMAILADDRESSES:

Tsegyalgar Gakyil: gakyil@tsegyalgar.orgBlue Gakyil: bluegakyil@tsegyalgar.orgRed Gakyil: redgakyil@tsegyalgar.orgYellow Gakyil: yellowgakyil@tsegyalgar.orgBookstore: bookstore@tsegyalgar.orgGekös: geko@tsegyalgar.org

Thanks very much,Andrea NascaSecretary, Tsegyalgar

INTERVIEW WITH JIM VALBYOCTOBER 6, 2003,TSEGYALGAR

by Christina Svane for TheMirror

Mirror: Good Morning, Jim. Wehave heard very exciting plans fordoing a month-long intensiveSMS Base retreat with you,including Yantra Yoga and VajraDance in Merigar in the Summerof 2004. Will you tell us about it?Jim: Yes. In Austria, in October2002, primarily Igor Legati, AnnaPucci and I were talking about thefinancial situation at Merigar andother Gars. How the Gars can goahead with a good financial basewhen our Master ChögyalNamkhai Norbu is not presentevery year. Gars sometimes inviteother masters, but then not somany practitioners participate.Maybe that can be useful forsome practitioners, but it is notreally the best way to maintain astrong financial base. Our discus-sions did not reach any conclu-sions. The next morning I was stillthinking about our situation. Wehave three special video transmis-sion days each year but in manyplaces it is not taken seriously.Many practitioners are not suffi-

ciently prepared to seriously par-ticipate in the transmission. Weknow that here at Tsegyalgar afew months ago two practitionersattended the explanations aboutone week before the transmissionday. On the night of the videotransmission about five or sixadditional new people attended,but they did not know anythingabout mudras, mantras and visu-alization. This is not serious. Thisis a joke. Rinpoche asks that interestedpeople seriously prepare by learn-ing the mudras, mantras and visu-alizations so they know what isgoing on. It is impossible to forcepeople to be serious. They saythey are interested, but they areonly curious and pretend toreceive transmission. They do notknow what is going on and theyjust sit and watch a video. Ireceive email from differentGakyils where many new peopleare just curious and not serious. Ialso receive email from Gakyilswhere the more experienced prac-titioners really help new peopleseriously prepare for weeksbefore the video transmission. Anyway, I thought that we canuse these three special videotransmission days for new andold practitioners who are reallyserious about connecting andworking with Dzogchen trans-

mission. The master may not bephysically present, but we canprepare for a week or ten daysbefore the transmission. Thennew and old practitioners knowwhat to do, so there is a possibili-ty that we really connect andwork with transmission. In addition, I thought it would benice for a group of practitionerswho received transmission to staytogether for more days to learnsome Vajra Dance, Yantra Yoga,Santi Maha Sangha Base, andcollective practices. Igor andAnna asked me to write such aproposal to the Merigar Gakyil.The Merigar Gakyil askedRinpoche for his advice and hesaid OK. So now we are going to try thisprogram from July 16 to August12, 2004 at Merigar. Each daythere will be two sessions ofSMS, one session of Yantra Yoga,and one session of Vajra Dance.There will be two groups forYantra and two groups for Dance.One group will be mostly begin-ners and the other group will bemore experienced. For this firstexperiment we will limit partici-pation to 24 practitioners so thateach practitioner receives person-al attention. We will prepare for the July 27video transmission and concludewith a Ganapuja on August 12.

continued on next page

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C O M M U N I T Y N E W SChögyal Namkhai Norbu Talks about the Sacred Buckland LandKhandrolingSeptember, 2003Khandroling

“Once when we had aretreat here [on theBuckland land] and we hadmany problems. The neigh-bors were opposed to uscoming here and madedemonstrations against us.Many Community peoplehad the idea it would bebetter to sell the land andthere would be less prob-lems, but I said we can’t dothat because it is sacred land related to the Dance of the Vajra. In any case, wehad to go to court and make many sacrifices and struggled for many years.Now we have no problem. I said, “Everything is relative. One day we willbuild retreat cabins. Now they don’t allow, but slowly, slowly, with patience,we can realize everything.”

The only problem here [in this region] is the weather. In the winter it isvery cold and there is always snow. Finally we have succeeded in buying theadjacent property and we can construct a road here. Then we can connect thethird hill because it is much lower, warmer and has nicer weather. Maybe youdon’t know this whole land and haven’t seen it, but I have walked this entireland five or six times. When I was on retreat here, after I practiced, I wouldwalk all around. Sometimes I was a little afraid of meeting bears because therewas no road. I would put sweets on the path to mark the way. One day on mywalk I did see a bear in a tree, and I got a little lost and became a little ner-vous. There is also water at this lower land; it is a nice place, a very nice place.Now we have the beginnings of the Universal Mandala here where I had somedreams and soon we will build retreat cabins.”

Transcribed from video footage of Jennifer Fox by Naomi Zeitz.

Khandroling UpdateSacred Buckland Land,TsegyalgarConway, Massachusetts

by Santo Santoriello

This past season, a good deal ofwork was accomplished at

Khandroling to develop theretreat area. Planning began lastwinter for a number of projectsthere. Through the spring andsummer, many volunteers helpedto remove the old dance Mandalaand to level the enlarged pad forthe Universal Mandala. Nextspring, we plan to finish gradingthis space and constructing theDance Mandala of 2X4’s andAdvantec board. This should taketwo weeks total, with enoughhelp, and may be spread out sothat the materials, volunteers, andgood weather are there together.

The bath house went througha number of design changes toreflect evolving ideas of whatfunctions it should serve. At thelast minute we found out that thetown expected it to be handi-capped accessible, and changedthe plan again. It has a bathroomwith a shower stall and dressingarea, a central room for mealpreparation, and a unisex handi-cap bathroom with bath/shower.There will be hot water, but thewater will need to be carted to atank on the hill to supply the bathhouse by gravity. There is also afront porch for protection in badweather.

It took a lot of effort to handdig the holes for the concretepiers,but the construction wentfairly quickly. The bath house isnow closed in for the winter. Next

spring, we will need to put up theT-111 plywood siding, hang andfinish drywall, put up trim andcounter tops, and paint the build-ing. Finally, fill will be sloped upto the structure, and topsoilspread over the whole area.

Rinpoche provided details forthe four new retreat cabins, andthe two-story thödgal cabin. Wehope to construct at least onecabin, and the thödgal cabin,while also completing the unfin-ished work from this past year.We may also upgrade the smallcabin near the pond to be a hand-icap accessible retreat cabin. Thiswill go on throughout the springand summer. Any people inter-ested in helping design thecabins should contact Santo<Cprice@Together.Net > onthe Red Gakyil.

We hope to have plansfinalized during thewinter.Volunteers will be neededto de-limb felled trees and dis-pose of the branches. . Rinpochealso said that he would be pleasedto have a garden Mandala createdat the site of the original Mandala.This might require some sitepreparation and grading, and thenthe planting of the garden. As theforest canopy is opened up bycutting the old pines, we mayreplant with oak, cherry, mapleand walnut to provide a futureeconomic base to help support theretreat center. We may begin asmall nursery to start seedlings.These projects will also go onthroughout the season.

Santo Santoriello, RedGakyil, who has experience in thebuilding trades, will be coordinat-ing volunteers on weekdays andthere will be a bulletin board withinstructions for projects.

There will be time for two Danceretreats, two Yantra retreats, andthe complete SMS Base. Maybewe can eat a meal together eachday to get to know each other.The cost of the retreat is 1500Euros. This retreat helps to con-tinue our Dzogchen transmission,sustain the financial viability ofour Community, and help supportour Community instructors. If this retreat format works well,and if there are interested practi-tioners, each Gar could do some-thing similar one, two or threetimes each year. Each Gar couldinvite foreign or local instructorswith Rinpoche’s permission.

Mirror: It sounds fantastic. Iwould hope you could do one ofthese retreats in Tsegyalgar, afteryou see how it goes this Summer.If someone wanted to do it again,would there be different levels ofthe Santi Maha Sangha teach-ings?Jim: That may be a possibility inthe future.

Mirror: How many people havesigned up so far?Jim: I don’t know the exact num-bers but it is fully booked. Thereis a waiting list. Merigar askedme to consider offering a similarretreat for the following videotransmissions in November 2004and March 2005, but I said, “Nothank you.” , because it is usefulfor other instructors to participate.Maybe the Merigar Gakyil canmake plans by inviting otherDance, Yantra and SMS teachers. Some people may have questionsabout the exclusivity of thisretreat for only 24 fortunate prac-titioners. Maybe in a subsequentvideo transmission retreat wecould have 48 practitioners withtwo Dance Mandalas, two Danceinstructors, etc. Also there arealready many other retreat for-mats offered by the DzogchenCommunity. Maybe some busi-ness person with family can plan18 months ahead of time to par-

ticipate in a month-long intensiveretreat like this.

Mirror: I have heard commentshere and there from people whohave heard of this idea that therewould not be any work study orspecial considerations for peoplewho do not have enough money,and they were worried that thiscould mean the future of our Garswould be only for people with alot of money. What would yousay to that?Jim: Already our Communityoffers many other retreat possibil-ities to participate in Dance,Yantra and SMS which ofteninclude the option of work/studyfor practitioners with littlemoney. This retreat is just a spe-cial way for a limited number ofpeople who have that money andtime to intensively study andpractice. It is not the only futureof our Community. In someplaces, some practitioners dowork study and the cost of cours-es is less. It depends on the eco-nomic situation of the particularcountries. This retreat format isnot the only way our Communitywill go ahead. We are really fortunate to havethese video transmissions.Rinpoche promised he will dothese transmissions at these threespecial times every year so thatnew and old practitioners canwork together with the Dzogchentransmission. We really haveBuddha, Dharma and Sangha.Some people get interested inDzogchen teaching and think thatthe teaching is wonderful, butthey do not care so much aboutthe Master or Sangha becausethey think teaching is just somekind of technique. Some peoplethink the Master and teachingsare wonderful but do not like theDzogchen Community Sangha.They think that many Communitymembers are stupid, emotional,nasty, intellectual and crazy. Butduring these retreats practitionersin our Sangha can really help

each other work with theDzogchen transmission.Gakyils in all Gars need to workwith their circumstances to main-tain our Dzogchen transmission.This type of limited retreataround a video transmission dayis one possibility. It is not areplacement for something else.It is the addition of somethingextra and special. I hope it goeswell.

Mirror: I hope it goes well, too.It sounds wonderful. Thank youfor explaining it to us, and wehope you have a wonderfulretreat with those people. Beforeyou go, would you tell us whatelse you’re working on?Jim: Yes, I have received invita-tions from 42 Gakyils asking meto lead practice retreats. I usuallyrespond, “No, I am sorry but it isnot possible now. I look forwardto our study and practice in afuture time.” But a few timeseach year I enjoy working withRinpoche’s Dzogchen transmis-sion by explaining and practicingrushen, semdzin, etc., with Vajrabrothers and sisters in differentcountries. I am working on translations ofancient Dzogchen teachings re-transmitted by Garab Dorje.Jigmed Lingpa and Longchenpaare a little modern for me. I hopeto begin publishing some transla-tions soon. I am very interested inRinpoche’s SMS program, and Ispend an hour or two each dayanswering SMS email questions.And I try to do my personal studyand practice. Each practitioner is responsiblefor the transmission. We need todevelop our capacity to be in thatknowledge and can really helpeach other develop our capacities.If we do not get familiar withtransmission, it will be difficult tomaintain these precious teachingsfor future practitioners.

Mirror: Thank you, Jim.

Interview with Jim Valby continued from previous page

M I A M I C O U R S E S :

January 23 - 25, 2004: Introduction to Yantra Yoga Course with Lynn Sutherland

February: Three Vajra Dance and The Liberation of the Six Lokas withAnastasia McGhee.

For more information about Miami Winter Courses, please visit:http://www.dzogchenmiami.org

or email: info@dzogchenmiami.org

Rinpoche in front of “his” tree on the Buckland Land

Rinpoche at the Guardian CabinRinpoche at the Bath House filming PHOTOS/N.ZEITZ

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SpicedCider.com1800 878 1965New Ipswich, NH 03071

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Vajra Dance Advanced and Teacher Training Conway, Autumn 2003

BAJA (MEXICO) AND OUR RETREAT, OCTOBER 3- 5, 2003A SHAGGY DOG STORY

by Carol Fields

The sense of saga does notabate.We thought that after

four or five years of discussionand search for the Winter Gar forNorth America, that we wouldcome to rest in a cozy little, warmspot where the snowbirds couldalight when their extremitiesbegan to freeze in the AmericanNortheast during winter. Instead,we caught the tail of the tiger. Ormaybe, in Baja terms, we fishedfor grouper, but pulled in a whaleinstead. We’re still landing it. Or,maybe, it is landing us.

It all started innocentlyenough, with Rinpoche suggest-ing that the DzogchenCommunity West Coast inCalifornia should be responsiblefor finding and obtaining a prop-erty for the North AmericanWinter Gar “in a warm place.”We would use the majority of thefunds we obtained from the saleof Kyundingar, our ill-fated,though beautiful, property inCazadero, California. Back in the‘80’s, Kyundingar encounteredresistance from a new neighborthat grew to a firestorm, thoughwe had a perfect retreat there onthe land with Rinpoche. But thatmountain refuge was not to be,and our decision to leave it led toa long period of waiting andsearch. From the sale ofKyundingar, we were able to send$40,000 to Merigar and various

gifts to other Community sites,and save some for a local Centerand the Winter Gar.

After a number of forays tosouthern California looking alongthe coast, at the inland desert, andclose to the Mexican border forthe future Winter Gar, we had oneof our famous Community-to-Community meetings (C2C) inJoshua Tree (inland of Los

Angeles) at a Vipassana retreatcenter which was for sale (springof 2002). We thought that perhapsthis was our new Winter Gar.However, most of the group, didnot fancy this property and wedecided as a group that this spotwas not for us.

We formed an expandedsearch committee and proceededto search far and wide—Arizona,New Mexico, SouthernCalifornia, northern Mexico,Baja, Hawaii and Belize. Thesearch committee was an exam-ple of what can happen whenpeople have determination. It ismy firm conviction, that without

this group energy, we wouldnever have found this land in BajaSur. Rinpoche encouraged us—“Ido not need to see the land,” hesaid, meaning that we could takesteps to secure the land when wefound it, even while he was trav-eling elsewhere. He offered tohave a retreat “in the new place”in October of 2003—but he alsocompassionately advised, “If you

do not find it, don’t worry.” At one point in the search, Jey

Clark sent out a message about aninternet site describing a four mil-lion dollar property in Baja Sur(the Baja peninsula extends fromCalifornia south into Mexico) andsaid “we can dream about thisone.” As I looked at the photos onthe site, it reminded me stronglyof Tassajara Zen Center in theVentana wilderness in California.I couldn’t resist calling the con-tact number—it turned out to beJeff Klein, who lived just acrossthe San Francisco Bay from me.We met in a bookstore, and heshowed me an amazing perma-

culture plan for the property, andsaid there might be a place for uson this land. I suggested that wego to see it, and he agreed. Thiswas not our first trip to Baja buton exploration number four, wehit the jackpot.

Margaret Bradford and I visit-ed the Rancho San MiguelGrande land with Jeff Klein, andit took us two days to explore it. Itis only 40 minutes from the LosCabos airport in Baja (where allthe tourists land), and is up 1,500feet in the mountains (where theweather is pleasant). It is 50 min-utes from the most beautifulbeaches on the Sea of Cortez. Wewere impressed with the greatwhite fig trees which wrappedtheir huge roots around the largeboulders; with the 22 unfinishedcasitas; and with the enormity ofthe great arroyo streambed whichthreads through the valley andalso through the middle site ofthis property. Palm trees clusteredby the streambed and scattered upthe mountain slopes.

It was warm, but not toowarm to hike into the middle ofthe land, which is a totally privatevalley, separated from the othertwo sites by ridges. Thestreambed is 50 yards wide inplaces with huge, ultra-smoothwhite granite boulders and pools.A lot of water has flowed herethrough the eons. We were verytouched by this property. Wecould not imagine that such a spa-cious place could be ours inwhich to practice. Individualretreat huts, a campground, staffquarters, and a Gonpa could becompletely invisibly developedon the middle site. Jeff said, “thenonprofit could own all of this.”We could not comprehend whathe meant. We later found that theowner, Peter Baumann, had con-sidered that donation to a worthycommunity, which would put theland to good use, was somethinghe would entertain.

Many negotiations later, afterPeter had revisited the land,where he had a strong experienceindicating that a community(OUR COMMUNITY) must ownthis land, we were headed to Baja

again to have a retreat withRinpoche. The land was to beours. All 3,000 acres. This was adonation, to secure which wewould contribute an amount up toabout $70,000 for the varioustransfer costs, including theappraisal, which rated the land asworth $1,375 million. Only ourcollective karma with Rinpoche’senduring vision could have pro-duced this result.

We scheduled the Octoberretreat as planned in Baja, eventhough the land transfer was notyet completed. We engaged theBuena Vista Hotel and Spa on theSea of Cortez (having one of twoconference centers on the coast)as our site. The hotel was idealwith small bungalows, lovelyrestaurant overlooking the beachand the sea. We planned a publictalk on the Pacific side in TodosSantos (the new Santa Fe), invit-ed the local Buddhist Vipassanateachers, and planned a visit toPeter and Alison Baumann’smansion on the tip of the peninsu-la. Elias Capriles of Venezuelagraciously consented to be theretreat translator.

One hundred twenty peopleor so, including one-fourth ofthose enrolled coming fromMexico, attended the retreat. Youcan imagine what it was like try-ing to coordinate with the hotel inMexico from California, and reg-ister everyone, and make surethey had transportation, etc. Butthis was only openers because agiant hurricane hit lower Baja oneweek before the retreat. Wouldn’tyou know, this was the ONLYtime in living memory that twohurricanes have hit Baja in oneyear!! Christina and a friend whoarrived from Italy early for theretreat, had to be escorted fromthe airport by van over the vari-ous flooded arroyos until the lastone before the hotel, which wasthe most gigantic flood of all, andfinally put them aboard a boatwhich took them to the hotel!.

I was struck that this was notthe Baja I had visited in Februaryand May. Then it was a desertenvironment. This time, everypatch of ground was green with

Beautiful thankas

by master painter

Glen Eddy

Goma Devi and a wide

variety of other figures

related to the

Dzogchen lineage

contact Glen at :

goldenvajra@yahoo.com

continued on next page

Community members meet with Peter Baumann, on the left, the donor of the Baja land,

Santi Maha Sangha 3rd Level Training in Tsegyalgar, Autumn, 2003

Yantra Yoga Advanced and Teacher Training at Tsegyalgar, Autumn, 2003 N. ZEITZ

N. ZEITZ

Goma Devi by Glen Eddy

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hoards of yellow butterflies, andevery bush was in full greeneryand flower.

The retreat was divine, ofcourse. Rinpoche glowed—in thepool, in the sea, in front of us atthe teaching. People were totallysilent at the end of his first teach-ing. Not a word. No one lined up.Just complete silence. Honor.Later, they were told they couldline up and ask questions after-wards, and everyone did. Eachmorning, arriving at the beach atsunrise. Ozer Jenma practice.Mandarava practice. Rinpoche,joking in the water. A big natureall around. Kitzia and GabrielHowearth attended from the per-maculture botanical gardens in LaRibera next door.

We made every effort to takepeople to the land—we triedtwice with Rinpoche, and sat atthe bottom of the mountain, withour feet in the cool water comingdown the arroyo. We had a picnicTibetan style, sitting on the roadand joking around. But we had toturn back. Only a small party offour students hiked up to the land.* see article The road was com-pletely disrupted by the hurri-cane, and the government wasbusy trying to repair the mainroads.

One student who hiked up tothe land said that he did not wishto leave it—ever. As they walkedup they encountered some of thelocal rural folks who live upthere—one man offered his horsefor the one woman of our groupwho was hiking up the road. Theyasked if we were going to buy theland. Baja is basically a huge nat-ural place with few people, whereword travels quickly, as if it werea small town. No secrets. As theNew York Times front pagerecently recounted, “Americansare buying up Baja.” No wonder.It is Southern California withoutthe people.

Rinpoche announced that thiswas the beginning of the WinterGar. He met with Peter and

Alison, the owners and donors ofthe land, as well as with JeffKlein, our contact and Peter’slong-time colleague in the musicbusiness. Peter regaled Rinpoche,Rosa, Jennifer Fox and myselfwith a gourmet dinner at his homeat the tip of Baja, and the topic ofconversation was Dharma, fromstart to finish. A good time washad by all.

To say that we have beenoverwhelmed by the magnifi-cence of the gift, the land, Bajaitself, and by Rinpoche’s unwa-vering positivity regarding thisopportunity, is putting it mildly. Ihave lived in California, andnever seen Baja before, the south-ernmost extension of California.The Sea of Cortez, on the eastshore of Baja, is the most biolog-ically diverse body of water onthe planet. Baja is, as JoeCummings of the MoonGuides,writes, “neither Mexiconor the United States.” It is adream state. I wish to explore themountains, the arroyos and pools,and to hear our songs and thearroyo’s own song on this land. Itwill take some time to compre-hend the massive beauty of thisplace where whales congregate,and the Buddhists are drawn—not just us, but the Spirit Rockgroup, a Lama associated withGyaltrul Rinpche, and others. Forthe benefit of all.

P.S. We expect the official landtransfer to be completed inDecember, 2003. We havereceived a second challenge grantof $20,000 (this December) and ifwe match it, we will receive morein 2004. Please consider con-tributing to this stupendous pro-ject (there is room enough for allof us). Your contributions are tax-deductible in the U.S. Send to :Dzogchen Community WestCoast, Winter Gar Fund, 2748Adeline, Suite D, Berkeley, CA94703, USA. Thank You.

s o u t h a m e r i c as o u t h a m e r i c aTashigar del Norte Progress Report, November 2003

Much concrete progress has man-ifested at Tashigar del Norte. Somuch that has been done that per-haps a simple list and some pho-tos will be the best way to giveyou some idea of the miracle ofMargarita.

Gonpa – Beautiful planswere turned into wonder-ful reality through thehard work of the Gar! TheGonpa is not totally com-plete, but still it was awonderful space for teach-ings. Also the Gar con-structed an attractive toiletand bath-house; and hasbegun to develop a goodcamping area for retreatattendees.

Homes – Rinpoche’s house isdone and is fantastic! Within theVillage, six homes are in variousstages of construction. Manymore are planned to begin as soonas time permits.

Water – We now have three wellsproviding good water for irriga-tion, homes and Gonpa.

Sewage – Our own privatesewage treatment plant is now onsite and soon to begin operation.It’s ecological and produces freshwater that we will pipe back tothe “green belts” within the pro-ject to keep landscaping green.

Roads – The entry road is graveland in good condition. In the res-idential area, (the Village) paved

roads, complete with concreteside gutters are now complete.They were done professionallyand with great care in engineeringand planning.

Utilities – Underground installa-tions of electrical, water andsewer service are all complete.

Aloe Fields – In the beginning100,000 plants were purchased

and planted. These plants havegrown and produced manybabies. The babies have been re-planted and are growing well. Wenow have over one MILLIONaloe plants in our fields. Irrigationpipes feed fresh water to the aloe,and local workers carry out thedaily tasks of caring for the plantsthemselves, including harvestingand replanting.

The Pig House – This is nowa brick-making factory. Wemanufacture earthen bricksthat are then sold to peoplebuilding houses.

The Comedor – formerly thechicken house – This spacenow has a working kitchenand is more comfortable formeetings, parties and foodser-vice. This is one of the Gar’smany successful projects.

None of these words can describethe joy of seeing the project inperson. Please come to Margaritasoon to see with your own eyeswhat we can do together withRinpoche, the application of theTeachings and some happy hardwork.

by Diane Campbell

NEW CALIFORNIA COMMUNITYEVENTS CALENDAR

The Dzogchen Community West Coast has a new Calendar of eventsand practice. You can access it from the Community’s site at:http://www.dzogchencommunitywest.orgor access it directly at:http://www.herb.com/practice/phpicalendar-0.9.4/Currently displaying Tibetan days of notice as well as practice sched-ule and current events, it’s updated and/or corrected daily and theonline calendar may be viewed by any computer and printed.* For Mac computers the following link will install a Tibetan calendaron a Mac (running OS X required) using iCal 1.5.1 (the format to sub-scribe has slightly changed in this new version of iCal):webcal://www.xs4all.nl/~loekjehe/Tibetan.ics(copy and paste the above URL in Safari).Please uncheck the options to remove tasks and warnings, so that youwill be notified of future Ganapujas.

For information or postings please contact: john@travel-light.com

NORBUNET NEWS

From October, 2003, Norbunet was transferred to its new emailaddress: <norbunet@mail.dzogchen.ru>. To subscribe people can send an email to norbunet-request@mail.dzogchen.ru with the subject-line:’subscribe’, or send amessage directly to Loek Jehee at<loekjehe@xs4all.nl>.. Although the list now runs on a server in Russia, Loek Jehee is stillthe responsible person for its moderation and maintenance. It can hap-pen in certain situations (e.g. when he is on a holiday) that a replace-ment moderator temporarily takes over Loek’s tasks. The Mailman program on which the list now runs offers variousadvantages over the old Majordomo program, such as the possibilityto send binary attachments, etc. Subscribers to Norbunet have accessto its archives through links in the Norbunet messages.

Baja continued from previous page

Doing Well While DoingGoodby Mark Farrington

October 2003 marked thereturn of Chögyal Namkhai

Norbu Rinpoche to TashigarNorte, Isla Margarita, the sixthGar of the International DzogchenCommunity, home to the Com-munity-owned company calledProyecto Comunitario Tashigardel Norte, a place of warmth andinspiration. Manystudents /investors fromaround the worldalso returned toTashigar Nortethis past month,receiving anotherinstallment of theLongsal Teach-ings while check-ing in on theprogress of thisexceptional pro-ject. How doesone mix thesetwo concepts flu-idly? Which is the more daunting;understanding and application ofhigh level Dzogchen Upadesha orbuilding a Dzogchen Communityproject that is actually profitable,self-sustaining and separate fromthe rigorous work of Rinpochetraveling the world around tooffer retreats? How is it possibleto think of yourself as a studentand an investor while practicing apath that teaches impermanence,the illusory nature of physicalphenomenon and karmic dangersof worldly attachment? For us thedilemma may seem profound, butI know what Rinpoche would say,“it’s all relative!”

In deed, relative it is. Forwhat we are really trying to do isto Do Well while Doing Good.This is a phrase the Board ofProyecto Cumunitario Tashigardel Norte (PCTN) has embracedby way of introduction fromDiane Campbell who encoun-

tered it while watching a TV pro-gram about another project thathad the twin goals of trying toachieve something meaningful ina profit, employment and humanadvancement sense, while at thesame time conducting oneself in away that benefits all those youcome in to contact with along theway. This, of course, is the prac-tice of awareness. It goes withoutsaying that any project sponsored,and owned by the DzogchenCommunity should naturally

incorporate such ideals. Wealways hope this is true, and thereis certainly plenty of evidencearound the world that theDzogchen Community has in factachieved this with its endeavorssuch as the first five Gars,A.S.I.A., Shang-Shung Institute,etc. What the Board of PCTNwould like to do is to assure all ofthe International DzogchenCommunity that we will upholdthis standard in this latest, andperhaps slightly adventurous newproject in Margarita.

As most will have understoodby now, PCTN is an integratedproject that purchased a largeblock of agricultural land on IslaMargarita for the purpose of pro-viding land for Tashigar Norte,Agricola Tashigar (an Aloe VeraFarm) and Village Margarita, aresidential development forPCTN owners. There are 37 “lotowners,” including Rinpoche,

that will build houses and live onthis land in an area that comprisesabout 20% of the overall bloc ofland. Agricola Tashigar cultivatesapproximately 1/3 of the land,with the remainder used by theGar or left as open natural space.This makes for an interestingchallenge of collaboration asthese three separate-but-connect-ed entities share a common gateand aim to support and respecteach other’s respective purposes.

In the 18 months since PCTNbegan operation,the Board haslearned manylessons that shouldhelp us to makebetter decisions inthe future.Initially, the com-plexity of the pro-ject combined withthe fluid nature ofeconomic andpolitical reality inVenezuela aggra-vated our ability topredict the course

of development. Throughout thedynamic process of this firstphase of the project we did ourbest to communicate withinvestors, plot a logical courseand react intelligently to changingopportunities. It may have lookedlike chaos from time to time, butthe hand was always firmly on thewheel. The sea, not the rudder ofthe ship, caused most of themotion.

As the project enters its sec-ond phase, which is much moreabout building the Aloe Verabusiness, we are better placed togive an account of some of thingswe have tried to do along the waythat are directed at the “Do Well”part of the equation. The “DoGood” part is hopefully obviousto all. Rinpoche has spoken aboutit many times to date. The cre-ation of a new Gar, the possibilityfor many of his students to liveand practice with him in the final

Rinpoche views Gonpa plans with Carolina, the architect

PCTN General Meeting D.CAMPBELL

continued on next page

20

ADVICE ON THEFUNCTION OF GAKYILAND OTHER ENTITIES Excerpts from a meeting of theTashigar North Gakyil with Chögyal Namkhai NorbuMargarita Island 10/18/03

Recorded, transcribed and editedby Dick Drury and StevenLandsberg.

Rinpoche: I think information isvery important for everyone. Inthis period, everyone in theDzogchen Community is concen-trated on Margarita because I amhere and staying a longer time.Therefore, everyone is wonderingwhat is going on. I think it is veryuseful for people to have moreinformation about what is goingon; what our projects are. Thatway we can also have more sup-port. The work is going very well.Everything is going well. So wecontinue what is going on. That isvery good.

Michel Dubourdieu: The prob-lems we have met in this momenthave to do with the function ofthe several entities that make upour Community. The first one isthe shareholders company, whichis made up of those who arebuilding houses. The second oneis the Aloe vera farming produc-tion. Then there is theCommunity with the Teachings,represented by the Gakyil. Whenthere have been comflicts we didnot clearly see the precise func-tion of the Gakyil. So the Gakyilfelt a bit limited and did not knowhow to proceed.I have two examples. The otherday I brought someone new to seethe land for the first time, and wewere greeted by a guard with agun. I had two ways to see thesame situation. I was shocked tosee this man with a gun. We wroteto you [Rinpoche] because theGakyil was not involved in thedecision to have a guard with agun. The other example is that theworkers with the trade unionblockaded the gate. The Gakyildiscovered that we need to beresponsible to check what is donein the building of the houses. It is not that I am criticizing, butthe way we were interacting withthe BoD (Board of Directors) -Gilberto [Parrella] and I are alsopart of the BoD of this company -and as Gakyil members we didnot really know what our rolwewas. Now we are proposing to theCompany and to the BoD and theshareholders that they give theGar a certain area that the Gakyilcould administrate. This indicatesa kind of division. We know weare all the same Community andwe know that each entity has aspecific function, but we havedifficulty to make the connectionbetween the functions. I think,more or less, that is our problem.

Rinpoche: You see, we have herethe production of Aloe vera, andalso many houses owned by pri-vate Community people. So thisis characteristic of this Gar. A Garlike Merigar, for example, is aDzogchen Community Gar whichis more developed and has hadmore experience. We have manyorganizations at Merigar. Wehave Shang-Shung Institute,ASIA, and Shang ShungEditions. Now we are going tobuild a museum. But when wesay Gar, the Gar is the DzogchenCommunity Gar. The Gar is not

the private property of someone.The Gar is a Gar and inside theGar we have different kinds oforganizations; each with its ownfunction and precise way ofworking. Also, the Gakyil is morethe official organization of theDzogchen Community, but theGakyil cannot coordinate every-thing. That is impossible. It isnecessary to have a way of col-laboration. You see, for example,ASIA has its official residence inMerigar, but now there is a bigASIA office in Rome with manypeople working there. That is anexample. We do not think thatASIA does not belong to theDzogchen Community.Everything belongs to DzogchenCommunity. So when we say Gar,the life of a Gar is the DzogchenCommunity. So if we have theDzogchen Community, then wehave a Gakyil. The Gakyil mustbe like a center for everything;but center does not mean some-thing like the ChineseGovernment, governing every-where, or the United Nations,governing all nations – it is notthat way. The Gakyil must collab-orate and know that everything isa creation in the interest of theDzogchen Community. I think everyone has to developsomehow and establish a way ofcollaborating. I think that is veryimportant. So officially, for a Gar,the Gakyil is most important.Then, if we are looking at how todevelop, there are different sec-tions for the organization. TheGakyil cannot do everything.Also in Merigar, they do not workthat way.

Gilberto Parrella: The idea fromthe very beginning with all theseentities was that every entityfunctions in a way to develop theGar. It means that every entity hasto develop an awareness of itscommon functions, and there is astructure in which you let theother entity do its work. TheGakyil is the center. Nevertheless,there are legal situations with theworkers, with the union; if every-one became involved in the prob-lem the only thing you would cre-ate is a big conflict and a lot ofconfusion. So, for example, thereis the idea that the BoD will meetwith the Gakyil to establish thefunctions of each entity. The BoD and Gakyil will havethis discussion and then each enti-ty will know what their particularfunctions are. The word ‘limita-tion’ can have a bad connotationor can be based in real needs. Sothere is an entity that cannot gobeyond its function because itwill create conflicts.

Dick Drury: Each entity shouldknow what the other is doing andcollaborate and give informationto each other.

Gilberto Parrella: We are learn-ing also how to create channels ofinformation. For example, if thereis a problem with a worker, if theGakyil or somebody from theGakyil sees that, that person doesnot need to run to Rinpoche tosay, “Look at what is happening,Rinpoche,” or go and write anemail and send it to everyone andcreate a lot of confusion. Thereshould be a channel where thatperson goes and speaks to some-body and that person discusses itin a group. We all need to knowhow to collaborate with oneanother.

Rinpoche: Collaboration is veryimportant. The main thing is toalways communicate. If commu-nication is lacking, many prob-lems arise. We have had muchexperience of this in Merigar;communication is very important.Another thing which is also veryimportant is what we say in theTeaching: working with circum-stance. We should work with cir-cumstance because that is ourmain concrete condition. It’s veryimportant. For example, whenyou say ‘guard with a gun’ itdepends on the situation. If thereis really that need - it is necessaryaccording to the situation - ofcourse, why not, there is no prob-lem. Otherwise, people say youhave no defense, and then some-one comes with a gun, what doyou do? That is a concrete situa-tion. But you must understandhow the situation of the country-side is and we should work withcircumstance. This is somethingvery important. We don’t think:“Oh, we are Buddhists, we areBodhisattvas.” Bodhisattvas havenothing to lose. But we havesomething to lose and then wehave problems. We also need to communicate andtry to understand how we canwork together more harmonious-ly. This is a very important point,because if have a Gar and devel-op something of interest foreveryone, then we need less prob-lems. We do not need to go afterone individual’s position. Ofcourse, if there are ten people,there are ten different ideas. Thisis relative and sometimes useful;but sometimes means nothing. Ifsomeone is very hard and doesnot want to collaborate, you letthat person have his view, it’s notimportant. But mainly we look athow the situation is and we workthat way. It is not so easy to makeeverybody happy and be in agree-ment. Even Buddha couldn’t dothat.You see, I am doing my best forthe Teaching and helping every-body. But many times some peo-ple say: “Your Teaching creates aproblem for me,” instead of say-ing, “Thank you”. Really. That isan example. I don’t care if thatperson is saying that. Then I sayto that person, “Don’t do it if youdon’t feel to, if you think myTeaching is creating some prob-lems.” Some people say, “I wasvery peaceful before I begandoing a practice like GuruTragphur. Now I have becomevery nervous.” Sometimes Iexplain that you are not relaxingand are charging. Your way ofdoing practice is not correct.Sometimes people insist and thenI tell them, “You should not dothe practice, it is better”. That isan example.You see, saying youshouldn’t do a practice is notgood advice, but working withcircumstance there is nothing elseto say. (Rinpoche laughs). At leastfor other people I try to do mybest. If I think, “Oh, some peopletold me my Teaching createssome problems”, then if I don’tteach and don’t collaborate, that’sa wrong way. That’s an example.Sometimes people don’t agreeand criticize, but I don’t care verymuch. If we work with people,many people particularly, then weneed a lot of patience. Otherwisewe can’t do anything becausepeople always have something tosay. It is very, very difficult. Thatis normal. So we do our best andwork with circumstance and com-municate. That is very, very

phase of his life and the creation of a new revenue source to support theworldwide Dzogchen Community remains the three primary goals ofthis project. What is clear from having been a part of the local com-munity on this Island for nearly 2 years now, is that in order to Do Wellwe need to remain very aware of our impact on those outside theDzogchen Community. The small pueblo of Pedro Gonzales which isjust down the road, Playa Zaragosa, which is the nearest beach com-munity to the Land, major suppliers that have received the businessfrom our development, government authorities that have received ourmany applications for permits and approvals, and finally workers thathave been employed to work on our land and build the buildings. All ofthis contact with those around us has created impressions in people’sminds, some favorable, some unfavorable. We are the source of muchcuriosity and there is little that goes unnoticed. Amid these circum-stances we are doing our best to ensure that we are welcomed on thisIsland, that we are accepted as good and responsible neighbors and thatwhen we interact with others we ensure that it is in a way consistentwith the Dzogchen Principles as taught by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu.

The residents of Playa Zaragosa who watch him come to swim dailyuniversally love Rinpoche, bringing along with him a “school” of prac-titioners. We offer good economy as well as entertainment value.Gilberto Parrella, the President of our company and a member of theBoard, is now well known by all of the businesses on Isla Margarita andhas succeeded in establishing a very high standard of work on our pro-ject. We are getting good prices and good quality for the work we con-tract, and we are handling our relationships fairly and with integrity.

The government is very appreciative of our investment on the Islandand is most impressed with the scope of our project. Bringing Aloe Verafarming to the Island has been a government objective for years beforewe arrived. If we are able to encourage other farmers on the Island tomake similar agricultural investments, then it can be an important newindustry for Margarita. As an employer we were swift to gain attentionin an economy that had been contracting at over –20% per year.Furthermore, unemployment is running at close to 30% on the Island ofMargarita. In spite of this excess supply of labor, Gilberto establishedfrom the very beginning a policy of paying the highest wages on theIsland in order to have a favorable impact on the surrounding commu-nities as well as to attract the most skilled workers. After discussionswith local community leaders, we were informed of the difficulty sin-gle mothers experience in find work in this area where agriculture is pri-marily men’s work. As a result, we are also now introducing a policy ofhiring more women to work for Agricola Tashigar, which should bringimmediate positive benefits to the surrounding families. In this way,PCTN is moving ahead with its project to Do Good for the DzogchenCommunity, while at the same time trying to Do Well by the people ofIsla Margarita, and in particular, our neighbors in Pedro Gonzales andPlaya Zaragosa.

There are other ways for PCTN to Do Well while Doing Good. Inour interactions with buyers of Aloe plants in Europe we are trying toestablish a reputation of being honest and reliable suppliers. Dick Drury,who has been tireless in his commitment to create an Aloe House Plantbusiness for Agricola Tashigar, has led this effort. Through Dick’s con-scientious handling of our main distributor in Holland we are rapidlydeveloping a market for our “organically” grown Aloe Vera plants. Ourbeautifully grown plants are already earning the European Market’srespect, now we are trying to ensure that Agricola Tashigar, and by rela-tionship, The Dzogchen Community, also earn the Market’s respect.

It is also the goal of PCTN to launch an Aloe Vera processed prod-ucts company to be called Margarita Aloe. In undertaking this projectwe are committed to creating only positively contributing products thatdo not harm the environment or exploit our customers. Whether it isAloe Vera gel for treatment of the skin or Aloe Vera health drinks forinterior health, these profits we hope to earn from Margarita Aloe prod-ucts will be made and sold with awareness.

And then there are the shareholders, the investors. It is a diversegroup that makes up the 50 or so investors in PCTN. Many are experi-enced investors that have committed a small amount of their wealth,while others have committed a large portion of their life savings. All of

continued on next page continued on page 27

Doing Well continued from previous page

Women land workers

Men land workers D.CAMPBELL

D.CAMPBELL

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 3 21

The MirrorNewspaper of the

InternationalDzogchen Community of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

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Tel: 39 3298865292 Fax: 39 0564- 968 110

Editorial Staff:Naomi Zeitz,Tsegyalgar

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welcome

All material © 2003/2004 byby The Mirror

Reprint by permission onlyWe reserve the right to edit

all subsmissions

PERU RETREAT with CHÖGYAL NAMKHAI NORBU

February 13, 14 & 15, 2004Longsal Yeshes Zang Thal

Cost: 100 US$ including food and lodging We canreceive registration via Western Union transfers.Please notify kunzan@hotmail.com when making

money transfers. Contact: Juan Bustamente

Email: kunzan@hotmail.com

NAMGYALGAR COMMUNITY NEWSAnother warm summer is beginning at Namgyalgar and the “still new”Gakyil is learnin new things, but the energy for doing all this is onlysustained through Community members providing much needed sup-port and assistance. Recently Gakyil member Lily Giblin moved fromRed into Yellow. As you can read below, all these projects rely on the ongoing activity ofdedicated members. If anyone would like to know how they can col-laborate in karma yoga activities please get in touch with the relevantGakyil member directly, or through Viki the secretary,<namgyal@acr.net.au> , and we’ll find something suitable for you todo!

GekösOur new Gekös, Michel Bricaire, is from Merigar and has beenNamgyalgar Gekös once before. Thanks to Michel for all his care of theGar, and welcome back to Namgyalgar!

Retreats/CoursesThe September Longde retreat at the Gar, lead by Angie Gilbert, had 12participants.There was a Tibetan Medicine tour with Dr Nida Chenagtsang fromearly October until December. The ongoing retreat program for 2004 has been formulated and detailscan be accessed on the Namgyalgar website.

August 2004: We have invited Michael Katz to conduct seminars andworkshops on “Dream Yoga” in Melbourne, Sydney and theBrisbane/Caloundra region in August next year.

Santi Maha Sangha (SMS)Courses are being planned at the Gar and study groups are active inlocal areas. Contact your regional coordinator or Gakyil member (seethe website or contact Viki at <namgyal@acr.net.au> for more detailsof local activitites.

Gar DevelopmentPlans for a disabled retreat cabin (which will accommodate the Gekös)are moving ahead with Tony Laurent collaborating with Trevor King,the local designer. Other projects include design work and buildingquotes for the long-awaited nyingtig retreat cabin which should seesome building action early in the new year, analysis of energy needs atthe Gar, planning for a Gonpa shrine, storage and use of the end roomsof the Gonpa.

Land CareIt has been suggested that a land care group be formed, and memberswho want to be involved in this can contact the red Gakyil directly orvia the secretary. The Landcare Group would concentate on weeds, ero-sion, fire prevention, etc, and have the ability to draw funding fromFederal and State grants, as part of the Landcare movement, a recog-nized and important part of Australian life, rather than it being a landmanagement group which works in isolation as only part ofNamgyalgar. Currently there is a lot of information, support and moneyto help Landcare groups. Hopefully those in the Community with a pas-sion for improving the land would come together for 4 or 5 week-ends/weeks of very hard labor each year to achieve our goals.

Transcription/Archive ProjectA small but dedicated group in Melbourne continue to work together onthis large project. Catherine Thomson is dedicating time over to helpbring the backlog of work from this year’s retreats up to date. She hasalso taken on the role of coordinator of the audio-visual group. JennyHutcheson is the transcription coordinator.

BookshopJann Darvill will wind down her involvement with the Bookshop.Suzana Dewa, who has been helping Jann every week for a while now,will keep the Bookshop running during Jan’s absences through to theend of January, and whilst its future management is decided.

Namgyalgar Retreat Program 2003-04Vajra Dance Course Sun Jan 4th -Sat Jan 10th

Easter 2004Santi Maha Sangha Retreat & Longsal Longde at Gar

June long weekend 2004Karma Yoga /Practice weekend (Ati Longsal Nondro) at Gar

Margarita House & Land Agency

In the village of Pedro Gonzalez,Margarita, where Tashigar

North is situated, an Agency hasbeen set up for the sale and pur-chase of land and houses in thearea, for the benefit and conve-nience of Dzogchen Communitymembers and local people. It isintended that a fair price will beagreed by this Agency with theowners of property who wish tosell, and that any Communitymembers who wish to buy can doso through this unified approach.Hopefully, this will help to avoida situation of many people tryingto buy houses in an unorganizedway, causing an uncontrolled risein property prices, as well as pos-sible confusion and bad feelingsetc.

Therefore, if you are interest-ed in buying a house, or a piece ofland to build a house, in the PedroGonzalez area, please considerusing our Agency. Of course, any-one is free to make a private dealoutside the Agency and the prop-erties it handles, but it would beuseful inform the Agency aboutit, to avoid the possibility of morethan one approach being made tothe owner.

The Agency is operated byTopographer Hector Millan,Architect Inti Briceña, and otherstaff. Full survey, legal, buildingand renovation services are avail-able.

Once again, in the interest ofavoiding inflation of propertyprices by the arrival of manyCommunity members looking forhouses or land without localexperience, please try this optionfirst. In any case, do not considerprices in comparison with thosefor a similar property in Europeor USA etc, and it is advisable torequire price quotes in local cur-rency and convert it yourself todollars, rather than encourageinflation by asking a seller for thedollar price.

For a presentation of a selec-tion of properties for sale by theagency, go to www.dzogchen-venezuela.org and select “Live inPedro Gonzales”.

Contact Hector and Inti forfurther inquiries by email(Spanish or simple English) toaguamontaa@yahoo.com.ar.

Many tashi delegs from MargaritaDick Drury

the Gars around the world have invested, as did Rinpoche. The onething they all have in common is their wish to support the DzogchenCommunity and Rinpoche’s Teachings by offering the land for the Gar.This, we can already happily declare accomplished! The additional andsecondary goal of investors is to create a successful business that willpotentially help support them in their retirement at Margarita. For thosethat do not need the profits from this project to support them in retire-ment, a new source of revenue obtained through such positive circum-stances can potentially offer a new channel for donations to support theDzogchen Community worldwide. For the Gars that have invested, thisnew source of profits will add diversification to revenues that to daterely primarily on membership fees and retreats, thereby bringing morestability to their financial circumstances. Satisfying all three of thesedifferent goals for investors would certainly be Doing Good for theCommunity. However, to also Do Well the Board must pay equalrespect to all three categories of investor and attempt to make decisionsthat balance the objectives of all. In some cases there will exist a needto re-invest profits rather than pay out everything in dividends in orderto improve the long-term yield from this investment. This sacrifice ofshort-term investment income for those depending on such incomemust be approached with care and communicated well to investors. Itwill be with great care and awareness that the Board approaches thesedecisions each year.

And so it becomes clear, there is no aspect of this project that doesnot present an opportunity to practice awareness and to Do Well. Therewill doubtlessly be moments of distraction, and there will emerge emo-tional conflicts amongst volunteers working on the project. After all, weare still operating within the human realm. Nevertheless, if we firmlykeep our intention to act with awareness on this project so as to Do Wellwhile Doing Good, then hopefully all can trust that we will alwaysreturn to the correct path, a path where the Dzogchen Community is themain beneficiary and all those who come in contact with it.

Mark FarringtonPCTN Board of Directors

n a m g y a l g a r &n a m g y a l g a r &p a c i f i c r i mp a c i f i c r i mDr Phuntsog Wangmo to teach Tibetan Medicine Tokyo, JapanMay 2004

Fri May 28, 19:00-21:00, Tibetan Medicine - Sat May 29, Intro to KuNye -Sun May 30, Intro to KuNye - Mon May 31, 19:00-21:00, Tibetan Astrology

Contact:<Blue-sky@nifty.com> or <aozvaj@yahoo.co.jp>

YANTRA YOGA at TASHIGAR SUD, MARGARITA ISLANDAdvanced and Teacher Training

with Fabio Andrico and Laura EvangelistiMarch 4 - March 13, 2004

Contact: Paolo Civile at paolacivile@yahoo.com.

Doing Well continued from previous page

22 T H E M I R R O R A U G U S T / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 3 22

I N T E R N A T I O N A L G A K Y I L N E W S

Karin Eisenegger for TheMirror: Rinpoche, what was theoriginal intention when you cre-ated an International Gakyil?Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Theoriginal idea has to do with thefact that at that time (1998),there already existed manyGakyils of the InternationalDzogchen Community aroundthe world; we had Gakyils oneach continent, in each country.The purpose of the InternationalGakyil was to facilitate easiercommunication between them.The idea of the IG was that wehave some practitioners whotake care of the internationalCommuntities‘ communication.They were not supposed to builtanother bureaucratic structureand were supposed to work with-out an office and also withoutfinancial funds. Already the Garsof the Dzogchen Communityhave a difficult economic situa-tion, so it was clear from thebeginning that the InternationalGakyil should not add to theseeconomic difficulties. We haveto know how our situation is andthen work with it. The originalidea of the International Gakyilwas really to improve communi-cation in the Community.

M: What are the functions of thedifferent colors in the IG?Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Thefunction of the IG, as I alreadysaid, is communication. In eachGakyil we have the characteris-tics of the different colors soeach color takes care of a certainaspect. But this does not meanthat each color does only theirown work, regarding only theircolor. A Gakyil has three colors,three persons, who work togeth-er on what the more urgent oruseful things or projects are at agiven moment. It does not meanthat all three aspects manifest atonce. This is valid not only forthe IG, but for every Gakyil any-where.

M: Have you seen any develop-ment of the IG in those yearsduring its existence?Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Thedevelopment, in this case,depends on how well the com-munication works. It dependsvery much on the work that theIG succeeds in doing with theGakyils of the main Gars. And,of course, there are many moreGakyils in the different coun-tries. If any Gakyil has some-thing to say or to do which needsbroader communication, then ofcourse they can deal with theInternational Gakyil and theother way round – the IG coulddo work with or for them. Itdepends of what we need and usein a certain moment.

M: As you already said,

Rinpoche, the IG is workingwithout an office or central loca-tion.Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Wecan not make an office for theInternational Gakyil; even theGakyils of the different countrieshave economicl difficulties.

M: Rinpoche, once you told usthat the International Gakyilshould be like a bridge. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Yes,like a bridge. The bridge heremeans communication.

M: What do you think,Rinpoche, happens, when youarrive at a bridge and someonehas put up a sign, saying:“Danger, do not enter!” or some-thing similar. Then on the otherside of the bridge another personarrives and reads: “Better notenter, you might fall.” Nobodywill use such a bridge. There aresome moments when theInternational Gakyil is a little bitlike such a bridge, where differ-ent people have put up differentsigns in front: “Better not enter”.Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Ofcourse the IG cannot run afterthe people. If the InternationalGakyil would have to run afterpeople to work with them, thatwould be impossible. That isalso not what is needed. If someGakyils are not interested in theInternational Gakyil, there isnothing we can do about it. Assoon as someone has understoodthat there is an InternationalGakyil and that it could be used,they should use this possibility.If someone is interested and you– as the IG - receive communica-tion, in this case the IG shouldtry to do its best. That is, I think,how it should work. Everybodyshould know how to use the IG.

M: Could you please tell usabout any future development ofthe work of the IG? Do you haveany ideas for the work of the IG?Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Ihave no particular idea aboutthis. It depends very much on theknowledge or the needs of eachGakyil. If there are Gakyils thathave ideas or projects and wantor need to communicate withother Gakyils, then of coursethey will discover that there is anInternational Gakyil. This waythey can really do somethingvital. We could call this thedevelopment. If people areignoring the existence of theInternational Gakyil, and no oneis integrating or communicatingwith the IG, or also if Gakyils donot know how to use this com-munication, then we can say thatthe situation is underdeveloped.This is then the real condition. Inour Dzogchen Community weare practitioners of the DzogchenTeaching and we try to be aware

and do our best, working withthe circumstances. That is whatwe should do.

M: How could the developmentof the collaboration between theGars and the InternationalGakyil be?Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Inmany Gars we still do not have areal base regarding economicfactors. For example, thereshould be fundraising for main-taining a Gar. If there are someideas, there needs to be anexchange of these ideas. Thisexchange can be on the materiallevel or also an exchange ofknowledge. If there is a realexchange, then the role of theInternational Gakyil is easy andwill change. It will become away to communicate and also away to receive information.

M: There is a project proposal ofyour son Yeshi Namkhai.Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Yes,yes, but first of all we have to seehow this program works atMerigar. Afterwards we can seehow it can be developed. Stillwe do not know very much aboutit.

M: So it is still an experiment,not something to be integratedinto the work of the IG?Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Forsure this will also become a workto be integrated into theInternational Gakyil, but notnow. Now it is too early (tojudge). First we have to experi-ment with the program, then wewill see how it works concretely.

M: Regarding the situation ofthe Gars, when you, Rinpoche,are not there giving Teachings:Once, after a little Tara Retreat, Iwas walking and I had this imageor idea of a group of practition-ers, staying over a longer periodof time together in a Gar, makingit become really alive by the col-lective practice they were learn-ing. They could stay there for amonth or two, their practicebecomes stable and more clear,books are bought, food cooked,rooms rented, etc. It was some-thing like the Retreat Merigar isorganizing next summer of 2004with Jim Valby. (see Mirror issue64 page & page 16 of this issue,:Interview with Jim Valby)If every Gar could work out aprogram like this, it would notonly be a project of fundraising,but also of raising our energy inpractice.Chögyal Namkhai Norbu:When we want to do somethingfor the Dzogchen Community ingeneral, it is not so easy. Thereare many opinions of many dif-ferent people. I remember, whenI presented the ”FundamentalProgram of the Dzogchen

T H E P U R P O S E O F T H E I N T E R N A T I O N A L

G A K Y I L

Interview with Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

Community”, many Gars andGakyils did not agree. Not onlyGakyils, but also many peoplepersonally disagreed and criti-cized it. That is only an example.I represent the Teacher of theDzogchen Community, so ifsomeone is criticizing theTeacher, who can present someprograms? This is not so easy.Everybody is living in their egoand limitations. It is not easy atall to develop some programswith many people. We are work-ing with the circumstances andsometimes possibilities arise andmaybe something manifests. It isvery difficult to make some pro-grams; very difficult. Even if wetry to make a program only forone Gar, there will be many peo-ple who disagree. So how we cando it internationally?

M: Last summer, at Merigar,there was a meeting of represen-tatives of the different Gars.Merigar presented the differentprograms they want to start, likefor example with CostantinoAlbini, an “Introduction intoContemplation“; programswhere participants do not neces-sarily need transmission. Theyplan to share this program withthe other internationalCommunities. Could it be afunction of the InternationalGakyil to help disseminate thisinformation to otherCommunities?

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu:When there are more or less sim-ilar opinions, when people agreeon something, then it is easier.When we say the IG is like abridge, and the IG meets withrepresentatives of the differentGars and Gakyils at a certainplace and they all agree on some-thing, on such a program forexample, then we can do some-thing.We have to learn how peo-ple think, very precisely andunderstand, otherwise it is not soeasy. If you present some pro-gram and say, “This could beinteresting, we could do that“,then people might say, “Yes, thisis interesting“, but afterwardsthis has to be brought into action.Bringing ideas into action meansthat people have to participate.At that point some people start tocriticize and say, “Oh, I do notlike this...“ or, “This is OK, thatis not good..”. At that point prob-lems arise. (It is not difficult topresent an idea.) For this reasonwe need the InternationalGakyil, to improve communica-tion and accumulate differentopinions. Then you also need toput things into action. Then yousee, if it works, it is fine, if itdoes not work, forget it. Noproblem, no?

M: Thank you Rinpoche.

Karin Eisenegger for TheMirror: Rinpoche, I want to askyour advice about how weshould work with conflictsbetween practitioners in theDzogchen Community.

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Youmean in the relationship betweenpeople? Well, how you relate toother people is a proof of thepractice. That is why I amalways teaching we should tryand discover our tensions, prob-lems, and ego-manifestations.Do not look for someone who isguilty. First of all, we have toobserve ourselves. This is alltaught in the Teaching.People pretend they are follow-ers of the Teachings, they say: “Iam practicing”. But practice isnot only doing a Ganapuja or asession of a Thun.Number one is Guruyoga.Practicing Guruyoga meanskeeping the samaya; the commit-ments. The teacher and studentare related through transmissionand samaya, student and studentare related through transmissionand samaya, and also the stu-dents and the Guardians of theTeaching are related throughtransmission and samaya. If weare present in all this then we cando our best.Of course, everybody makesmistakes; that is normal. But, ifone is a practitioner, one under-stands: “I made a mistake. I willchange my idea because I didsomething wrong.” For this rea-son we also do Ganapujas and

make peace; making peacemeans letting go of our tensionswe otherwise keep inside.Otherwise we do a Ganapuja andthe next day the conflictsbetween people is still there andgoes on. If one keeps an ancientobject (in their home), thatancient object has value. But ifour tensions are passing time andgetting ancient, we will haveincreasingly more problems withour samaya and more problemsin our lives. That is the root of allsamsara and of all problems.When someone is really follow-ing the Teachings they have tonotice that, otherwise there is noreason to follow the Teaching.That is the point.So everybody should reflect onthis. In the Sutra Teaching it saysthat everything is interdepen-dent. If I have some conflict thatmeans that I have somethingwrong going on.It cannot be that only one sidehas a problem. The primarything is that you are not going tochange this other person whomyou are having a conflict with oreliminate that persons tensions.Instead you try to observe your-self and try to change your owntensions. That is called evolu-tion. Where there is evolution,there is also peace and collabora-tion and everything positive aris-es. Practitioners should observeand work this way.

KE/Mirror: Thank you,Rinpoche.

Interview with Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

Working with Conflicts in the Dzogchen Community

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 3 23

This is the annual report regard-ing the Project “Complete

Works of Chögyal Namkhai Nor-bu”. In the third year of this pro-ject (July 2002-June 2003) wecollected about US$ 23,500 givenby the following donors:

Adriana Dal BorgoAlfredo and Maddalena AvelloneAngelo FontanaAnna PucciAntje d’AlmeidaClara BordeuClaudio DonadioCosimo Di MaggioDavid MeyerDorothea FranckDzogchen Community of Brescia(Italy)Dzogchen Community of Como(Italy)Dzogchen Community of CzechRepublicDzogchen Community of FranceDzogchen Community ofGermanyDzogchen Community ofHollandDzogchen Community ofHungaryDzogchen Community of SpainDzogchen Community of Styria(Austria)Dzogchen Community of Torino(Italy)Dzogchen Community of Venezia(Italy)Dzogchen Community of Wien(Austria)Eric VoisinFrancesco GracisGabor HardyGiordano and Jo AsoliGregory Fabien ForguesHelmut ReileHelmut SmrcekJana WurzingerKathleen Fekete BauerleinLaura InnocentiLuciano Minghetti

Massimo OrsiMimmo MercoglianoMonique and Yann LeguenNatalia PopovaNorbert OhlOriol AguilarPaolo BrunattoPaolo PapponePetra SeibertPia BarilliRiccardo MoragliaRolf PortackSvetlana RieckeThierry and Annick JeanneretUgo Cardea

The donations given before andafter the period July 2002-June2003 are not listed here. We apol-ogize for any unintentional errorsand omissions.We are listing below the transla-tion work done by AdrianoClemente in the past year and hisfuture plans for this project:

TRANSLATIONS OFCHÖGYAL NAMKHAINORBU’S WORKS IN 2002-2003

1. THE PURIFICATION OFTHE SIX LOKAS AS PRELIMI-NARIES OF THE PATH OF ATI(a ti’i lam sngon rigs drug gnassbyong) published in LONGSALTEACHINGS VOLUME THREE,SHANG SHUNG 2003.

2. THE UPADESHA ON ALLPENETRATING WISDOM (yeshes zang thal gyi man ngag) pub-lished in LONGSAL TEACH-INGS VOLUME THREE,SHANG SHUNG 2003.

3. THE MAIN POINTS OF THEVIEW TOTALLY BEYONDTHE CONCEPTUAL MIND (ltaba blo ‘das chen po’i gnad byang)published in LONGSAL TEACH-

INGS VOLUME FOUR, SHANGSHUNG 2003.4. THE UPADESHA OF THEPRIMORDIALLY PURETREGCHÖD (ka dag khregs chodkyi man ngag), to be published.

5. THE CYCLE OF DAY ANDNIGHT AND ITS RELATIONTO THE ORIGINAL TEACH-ING (nyin mtshan ‘khor lo magdams khungs dang ji ltar ‘breltshul bstan pa), SHANG SHUNG2003

6. AN AMAZING SCENE (ngomtshar ba’i ltad mo), with the col-laboration of Elio Guarisco, inTWENTY YEARS WITH THEMASTER AND HIS WORDS,SHANG SHUNG 2003.

7. THE WAY TO PRACTICETHE SELF-LIBERATION OFTHE SIX LOKAS (rgyud drugrang grol gyi nyams su len tshul),to be published soon.

WORKS IN PROGRESS

1. THE TREASURY OF ATISAMTEN, FIRST LEVEL OFSANTI MAHA SANGHA, newedition revised and enlarged (a tibsam gtan dgongs mdzod).

2. THE TOTAL SPACE OFVAJRASATTVA: ROOT TEXTAND COMMENTARY (rdo rjesems dpa’ nam mkha’ che rtsa‘grel).

FUTURE PROJECTS

1. SANTI MAHA SANGHASECOND LEVEL, NEW EDI-TION.

2. SANTI MAHA SANGHATHIRD LEVEL, NEW EDI-

TION.

3. LHUN GRUB THODRGAL KYI MAN NGAG, fromthe Longsal Cycle.

4. THE TOTAL SPACE OFVAJRASATTVA WITH THREECOMMENTARIES.

5. VAJRA DANCE, ORIGI-NAL TEXT INCLUDING THEHISTORY OF ITS DISCOVERY

6. THE BOOK OF DREAMS.

7. THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

Our goal is to collect every year afair amount of money for thetranslator, so that all of ChögyalNamkhai Norbu’s Tibetan workscould be translated in the bestway and as soon as possible.We hope that all the Gars, Gakyilsand practitioners of ourDzogchen Community will con-tinue to collaborate as they did sofar very generously.

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE TOTHE PROJECTThe donations can be handedover manually to the MerigarOffice or can be sent throughbank transfer to the followingaccount:# 893, Banca Popolare dell’Etruria,Branch of Casteldelpiano, in thename of Comunità Dzogchen FAIBAN Code: IT98Q 05390 721900000 0000 0893BIC Code: ARBAIT 33126

For any further information please writeto Karin Eisenegger-Koppensteiner,garuda@bluewin.ch, and Igor Legati,edizss@tiscali.it

The International Gakyil,December 2003

T H E P R O J E C T“ C O M P L E T E W O R K S O F

C H Ö G Y A L N A M K H A I N O R B U ”

It’s about your practice and study of the dharma.Buddhadharma is the new quarterly journal forBuddhists of all traditions who want to deepen theirpractice and understanding of the dharma.

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It’s discovering allthat we share as acommunity.No matter what traditionwe come from, we’re all Buddhist practitioners — with acommon heritage and a growing sense of community.In Buddhadharma, we’ll get to know each other betterand share what we’ve learned on our journey.

Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly is nowavailable by subscription and on newsstands throughoutthe United States and Canada. To subscribe at theintroductory price of $19.95 ($29.95 CDN), call toll-free877-786-1950 or visit www.thebuddhadharma.com.

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p a s s a g e s

MARRIEDOn December 19th, 2003,Babette Eid married JeskoPartecke in Konigsdorf, Bavaria,Germany.

MARRIED:Kamalesh Raeannon and KirtiMills on Dec 14th in Melbourne,Australia.

BORNGraeme and Catherine Hornerare delighted to announce thespeedy, safe birth of their firstchild, a precious, beautiful daugh-ter called Alicia Tara EmakiriHorner. Alicia was born at 3:17PM, onSeptember 25th, 2003, weighing3455gms, 49cm long, with blueeyes and dark hair, at BoxHill,Victoria, Australia. Graeme andCatharine are all at home, happy,healthy and adjusting well to ournew life together.

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DREAM YOGAand the Practice of Natural Light

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24

Death, loss and grief are clearly life’s most ardu-ous challenges and often lead to a spiritual

quest. What else carries the terrible profoundimpact of the loss of loved ones, either through thedeath of parents, children, partners, or throughdivorce, relationships ending, loss of a treasuredpet, loss of parts of our bodies, our minds, whatev-er? Attachment: the cause of suffering. We all knowit and sooner or later; we all experience death andloss in varying degrees and ultimately the final lossof our own temporal existence.

The big hole, the last hurrah, the ‘grand finale’which fills most of us with fear and trepidation.Hence the spiritual path, looking for relief andsome meaning to this strange sentient existence ofjoy and suffering leading finally to separation. Andwe never remember. And we don’t know what toexpect. And it is scary and painful.

How can we grapple with and understand thisconfounding, paradoxical life which takes ourloved ones and ultimately ourselves? So we beginto seek. Sometimes we find solace and solution inthe religious practices of our families and traditionsand sometimes not. Sometimes we become nihilistsand just accept the meaninglessness of life and livefor the moment. Sometimes we go mad or becomealcoholics, drug addicted or compulsive shoppers.And sometimes we take refuge in the Buddha,Dharma, Sangha / Guru, Deva, Dakini, dependingon our karma, capacity and circumstance.

We have learned many methods to work withour samsaric stew from renunciation to transforma-tion to integration, where we see all the suffering asornaments of the state. Are we able to use thesemethods to bring some level of understandingand/or realization or, at least, to suffer less duringthe journey? Do these hard life lessons make us bet-ter practitioners; do we really use all the precise and

powerful tools given by Rinpoche to work with ourdeep sufferings or do we habitually fall into sam-sara again and again?

The Mirror has asked that people share theirexperiences related to death, loss and grief and theTeachings. Printed here is an interview done withChögyal Namkhai Norbu by Paula Barry for theDeath and Dying Committee of the NorthAmerican Dzogchen Community, and a few pieceswe have received from our readers. Please feel freeto participate in the future topics listed below.

Thank you,

Naomi Zeitz for The Mirror

Next 4 Topics for 2004January 15 SexualityMarch 15 Love & RelationshipsMay 15 Family & ParentingJuly15 Addictions

Death, Loss and Grief

by Paula Barry for The Mirror

Q: What practices should be donewhen someone is first diagnosedwith a terminal illness that couldlead to death? Should the type ofpractice change at the variousstages of illness, as the persongets closer to death, and how doesthis differ if the person is a practi-tioner or not a practitioner?A: If someone is a practitionerthey know what they should dobecause practitioners are follow-ing the teachings and teacher.They know very well there will

be death one day, so they areat least prepared. If

someone isnot a

prac-

tition-er, then it

is a little diffi-cult. If a practitioner

wants to help they can do somepractice like Shitro or somethinglike that for helping, but it is notalways so very easy to help. Wealso have the possibility ofpreparing tagdrol and givingnyongdrol. Nyongdrol meanstasting for giving the cause of lib-eration. Tagdrol is wearing some-thing and the contact with thephysical body creates some possi-bility of joining on the path forthe future. So that is what we real-ly can do. If you are a relation ofthe person who is dying, even ifthat person is not a practitioner,you can dedicate some practicelike Shitro or Vajrasattva because,as a relative, there is a connectionwith these people. The practition-er and the dying one can havesome benefit. Otherwise, some-times we can ask some practition-ers to do some prayers, etc. Wecan do our best, but if there is notmuch connection with that per-son, so really having a concretebenefit is not so easy.

Q: In terms of specific practicesto do, if one is a practitioner, arethere specific practices to dobased on certain types of illness?A: It depends on the situation ofthe illness. Some people, forexample, have a heavy illness likecancer. In that case, that personcan try do some practice to over-come the illness or control thenegativity; something like thepractice of Garuda, until the end.When there are really no morepossibilities and death is mani-festing, of course the practitioneralready knows what to do; thatmeans when the Bardo of themoment of death is manifesting agood practitioner tries to remem-ber Guruyoga and be in that state.At least someone who in theirlifetime who did some practicelike Vajrasattva or some otherkind of purification; at thatmoment they try to remember andtry to be in this visualization and

also use the invocation, etc.,because at that moment it helps.What is important is being awarethat it is the moment of death. Themoment of death is normal for allsentient beings; not somethingspecial. If there is birth there isdeath, always. Many people arevery upset and don’t want toaccept the moment of death. Thatis a little stupid and really missingan understanding of life. Life isbirth, living, dying; everything isall connected. So we do notrefuse that we are going to die; ofcourse we accept. That is natureand we do our best in this case.That preparation is important inthe lifetime; following teachingsfrom a teacher and receivinginformation is the best way. Somepeople do the practice of Phowa.If someone can really succeedwith this practice, they can use it.

Q: If we are diagnosed with aspecific illness, is it a good idea tocontact our master to understandwhich practice might benefitcombating the illness specifically.A: Yes, it is also relative to oursituation. Sometimes it is easy tohave contact with teacher andsometimes not, but in any casephysical contact with the teacheris a secondary thing. More impor-tant is that you are always beingin the state of the teacher. If youare being in that, even if physicalcontact is not present, you are inthe state of the teacher. You canalso be helped with that clarity.

Q: Do you think it’s a good ideaif when we get sick we ask peopleto do practice for us, for example,a similar practice to what we aretrying to do, with us in mind?A: Sometimes it can be useful,for example, if someone reallyhas complete capacity to be inawareness, etc.; in this case it isuseful that they help and do prac-tice. For example, if someonecan remind you of the principle ofdoing practice by reading theinvocations of Samantabhadra orthe Bardo - these are not methodsof sitting practice - but they makethe person remember the princi-ple of the teaching at the momentof death and this is important

Q: If someone is killed or com-mits suicide is there somethingspecial to do? Related to a violentdeath, does the passage throughthe Bardo change as well as one’skarma and rebirth?A: When something like suicidehappens, it is a very dangerousthing. These people are almostalways dominated by some kindof bad spirits. That is the reasonthis happens. Also, these spiritscontinue to influence that beingfor many centuries. To be freedfrom this kind of cycle, manyrites, like those in the Chöd prac-tice, must be done. In the Chödthere is something called ‘dur’;something specific for separatingthis kind of bad spirit from theconsciousness of that person whokilled themselves. If these are notseparated the person is dependenton that (bad spirit) for centuries.

Q: So it’s good for people whoknew them to do practice likeChöd for them?

DEATH AND DYINGINTERVIEW WITH CHÖGYAL NAMKHAI NORBU

September 2003

Tsegyalgar

d a i l y l i f e i n t h e m i r r o r

“A, LA, LA, HO!”, Everything is Marvelous!by Giada Manca

How does one grow up with thefact of death? How does on

handle it?Childhood: the death of ani-

mals, the drowned kittens in apond, the death of grandfather, ofa friend fallen from a horse; adeep sorrow but also a feeling ofimmortality of ‘this cannot hap-pen to me’. Adolescence: ateenage friend dead from cancer,the awareness that this might hap-pen to me, the idea that all thesurrounding world where

I felt so safe, that seemed theonly world possible, would cometo an end. The thought of imper-manence is unbearable. Teachers,parents,adults, books explainedand ‘taught’ but nothing seemedto correspond to our inmost ques-tions.

Adulthood: Western society isall about “read me”,” eat me”,“buy me”: in the maze of neverending illusions we get distracted,

always wanting this and that andat the same time nothing everseems to quite match the essentialproblems of our being: Death?Just another commodity: thefunerals, the flowers; the dead aresomewhat disturbing and incon-venient, they are taken out of hos-pital from small back doors andquickly closed in coffins.

When I listened to Rinpochefor the first time I felt that at last Ihad found that missing part thatgave a sense to the whole pictureof life. Only the Teachings dis-close the real meaning of life anddeath and beyond but understand-ing is not easy! Dualism, interde-pendence: when I first cameacross these concepts I felt themto be totally beyond my grasp Weare brought up to think that life isdualistic as a matter of fact, butthe joke is that we are alwaysdealing with one of the two terms:it’s either you or me, my innerworld (subject) or the outer world(object); one of the two termsremains hidden. We live as ifdeath didn’t exist. Our vision is sodistorted that interdependence

seems to be something mysteri-ous. We cannot even think that ifwe are present in our life, we arealso present in our death, as onecannot exist without the other.

Attachment: the sense of anindependent I is so strong, that

Although the concept seemseasy to understand, it never quitesinks into us and again and againwe consider our emotions,thoughts and bodies as concreteproperties. Most of the time weare locked in our egos with noperception of the infinite universewhere life and death are just illu-sory manifestations. I heard HisHoliness the Dalai Lama say thatmany monks die in a perfectlyserene state and some are evenenthusiastic.

Past is gone every instant,time, change, loss, but as werecite in the Ganapuja: “A, LA,LA, HO!”, everything is mar-velous. This is inconceivable forour little I sitting in ignorance ,but I know that when I am in thestate of transmission things openup and what seems impossible tothe ego becomes possible.

GRIEF

The pain of the world, the tears, sleepless nightsYou are not immune

Money, amusement, entertainment Will not protect you

Avoiding the painAvoiding the pain

Avoiding the pain

Can you?

If you dream the world’s dream of pain, will you splinter?Will you drown?

Will you yearn to collapse against

A marble slab,

Or can you sit In a charnel ground

Amidst the furious winds?by Paul Bail

among this crowd of seventy orso of his older students, but hegrabbed my hand as I turned towalk away and looked me direct-ly in the eyes.

“So we’ll see each otheragain?” he said.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m sure wewill.”

Des Barry is a novelist andscreenwriter who presently livesin Cardiff, Wales, the land of hisbirth. His third novel, Cressida’sBed, will be published byJonathan Cape, London, in June2004. He met Chögyal NamkhaiNorbu at Easter, in 1979.

How I Met ChNN continued from page 28

continued on next page

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 3 25

Nothing to Loseby Jay Callahan

My father died suddenly when I was thirteenyears old. One day, I was part of a secure hap-

py family living in a beautiful place; the next, mostof that was gone. My family had no money, no help,not much hope.

Even then, though, I was a skilled Buddhistpractitioner, and immediately saw through prob-lems, straight to the empty nature of suffering—orso my ego would like to think now. In truth, I spentmany years after my father’s death completely gov-erned and driven by a desperate search for safety

and security, closed down against the world.The effects of loss ruled me.

When my mother died,I spent the last five

weeks with her,observing herlose herself asthe cancer slow-ly dismantledher brain. She

told me towardsthe beginning that

she was afraid tosleep, because she did-

n’t know what she would bewhen she woke—what part of her

brain (and self) might have gone. One morning, shedid wake as a different person; a person who talkedrapid-fire nonsense and moved restlessly from bedto chair to door and back. Talk and movementslowed as exhaustion overtook her, and then shedied.

Watching her though, I was aware that, behindher chatter, a being who did not chatter looked backat me always. She died, and that being and the chat-terer both were gone. That’s ten years ago; almostancient history.

Now, I practice for her, who worked endlesslyall her life so that her children would be well; formy father, who tried to find Dharma in a time therewere no teachers or books available in the UnitedStates; for my brother Gary, killed when a small

part in his motorcycle broke; for my grandparents;for all of them. I knew them well once, loved them,but that time is gone; a dream. We took handstogether for a little while, but the world tore usapart. Maybe we’ll meet again, but who know?

Samsara is vast.What is to be done?Practice, of course.But who is it that practices?By now, I’ve had a number of beautiful and

profound “Dzogchen” experiences, and sometimesI’m pretty pleased with myself. My ego is calmerand more assured than it was years ago; it wearsDzogchen comfortably, like a sort of uniform—anattractive and fashionable uniform. Dzogchenmakes me feel good; life is less difficult. My ego ispleased that it can have very nice Dzogchen expe-riences. It knows that these experiences are a signthat, though other people’s egos may be foolish andobstructive, it’s a unique and wise Dzogchen ego.

My ego doesn’t want to step down from itsthrone and have to see that its whole world is just alittle puppet-show. It fights skillfully to prevent thathappening, in any way it can, even creating some-thing that feels and tastes like the primordial state,in an attempt to protect itself from realization,which it dreads with an overwhelming fear. My egoconvinces itself that its life, my life, will neverend—that it can block out the light of reality forev-er.

My ego doesn’t rejoice when I simply let it restin its own place, recognizing it as just one way clar-ity manifests, because in that way, it loses its com-manding role—and my ego sees that as its owndeath. I’m so accustomed to my ego that I some-times feel that letting its walls dissolve is my deathtoo. How can I bear to lose this universe I’ve creat-ed, and in which I’m now so comfortable? Whatelse can there be, outside? Fear of loss rules me.

I can practice for my parents in a way whichstrengthens my ego, but who will that help? I cancreate my own ‘primordial state’, but that wouldonly be the worst kind of hell. Maybe I should paycareful attention, and do my best, instead.

Last night, it snowed, and the roads were bad,driving home in the dark. Today, the sun is shining.

A: Chöd practice is good forthem.

Q: In cases when someone whodies in an accident, is murderedor dies very suddenly, is that alsobad spirits?A: That is not bad spirits, that isaccident. If someone is a goodpractitioner there is no problem;they can also be in a state ofGuruyoga. But most people donot have that possibility andbecome a little lost in that situa-tion. In this case, it is importantfor people who have some expe-rience to do an introduction ofBardo on the third day; the thirdday and also each week. Also todo some purification, but at thesame time an introduction ofBardo. We can find that intro-duction in the Tibetan Book ofDead. That’s very useful.

Q: Is there any thing to dospecifically to do for the familyof a person who is ill?A: We do our best to help themto understand the situation andhow to work with it; not only tobe suffering, worried and agitat-ed. They work with the situation.

Q: I think in the retreat youanswered this question, but whatshould we do in the moment ofour death?A: A practitioner should try to bein the state of Guruyoga. This issupreme.

Q: If we are with someone whois dying, what should we do inthe moment of their death? Forexample, if I were with mymother who is not a practitioner.A: You can’t really do verymuch, but if you are there, youcan sing the Song of the Vajra,for example, or chant the 100syllable mantra of Vajrasattva,because she can still hear. Youcan make a good cause. We sayalso thödrol; thödrol meanshearing to make a cause of liber-ation. Then we use tagdrol,nyongdrol; everything. We try tohelp in that way.

Q: If I am a practitioner, forexample and there are otherpractitioners around, whatshould they do in the moment ofmy death?A: They should sing the Song ofVajra, be in the state ofGuruyoga and remind the personwho is dying of how we alwaysdo collective practice to get intothe state of Guruyoga. That is thebest way of dying.

Q: Can you talk a little aboutTibetan cultural traditions ofwhat to do with the body afterdeath. For example, how theywash it, etc.A: It depends who is dying. If apractitioner is dying, someonecan chant Om Mani PadmeHum, and also someone who hasa little knowledge and under-standing tries to keep the bodymaybe one, two or three days,etc., particularly if they are stillshowing that they died in themeditation position. Then wepay respect and wait. That isimportant. Some people say,“Oh, in the Tibetan system it isimportant we must not touch thebody for two or three days.”That’s not true. There is notmuch reason because it onlymakes a bad smell. That’s notreally useful. It depends if the

person who is dying has knowl-edge or not. If someone, a nor-mal person, is dying, then thereis no problem. When you dis-cover they are really dead, thenyou do the normal things. Youcan do everything. Many peoplethey ask if it is positive or nega-tive to give organs for others.That’s positive, not negative atall, because it can help someother people not to die. If some-one is a good practitioner and isstill in a meditation position,even if it’s not a sittingposition and weknow that theyare a goodpractition-er, in thatcase it ism u c hbetter ifwe keepthe bodyfor somedays if it ispossible. Givingorgans may be impor-tant, but still more important isrealization.

Q: When you say “keeping theposition”, is the only position sit-ting, in other words is the sittingposition is the only sign? What ifthe person dies laying down?Does a good practitioner onlydie sitting up?A: Many practitioners are sit-ting. At the moment of dyingthey move to a sitting positionand die. They are particularlyinterested to keep a straight headfor two or three days, then theyfall down to right or left side.That means they are no longer inSamadhi. That is the reason.

Q: Can they be in Samadhi ifthey are lying down?A: Yes, that is also possiblesometimes. For example, like inparinirvana position of theBuddha; he is lying down. It isnot necessary to be sitting, but itis good if it is possible. What isimportant is knowing the condi-tion of that person.

Q: For normal people who donot die in Samadhi, are theresome particular beliefs inTibetan Culture, how you wash,how to prepare, whether youburn or bury the body?A: No. A dead body is alwaysjust a dead body. After death weare not interested very much.

Q: After somebody has died, itwould be good to understandprecisely the timing of the prac-tices. When do we start Shitro.Do we do Guruyoga with theWhite A for a few days first?What is done exactly, for the per-son who has died.A: In a more general way, we dothe practice of Phowa and intro-duction of the Bardo or the invo-cation of Bardo Thödrol. Westart that on the third day. Why?Because that is consideration ofall sentient beings; humanbeings. After death, they arelinked for at least three days andthen wake up. Then, for eachseven days, there is a kind ofprocess of death.

Q: For the first three days if theperson is a practitioner, do we dosomething in particular?A: Yes, for example if someoneis dead, from the moment ofdeath you can always sing the

continued from previous page Death and Dying interview with ChNN

Song of the Vajra and do the prac-tice of Guruyoga. If someone is agood practitioner then they are inthat state, so the unification inthat state is always very positive.It is positive not only to helpthose who are dying, but also foryourself.

Q: What does the dead personexperience in the days andmonths after death?A: First the person feels they arestill alive and then slowly, slowlythe sensation of being alivediminishes.

Q: In our lineage, because we areyou students, your disciples, whatis your view about having otherlamas practice for us after ourdeathA: What is important is if a lamadoes something, that at least thatlama knows the real sense of theteachings and has realized in thesense of teachings, then there isno problem. There are manylamas today who only read andcomment on books, giving argu-ments, etc. That doesn’t help verymuch.

Q: What about having someonedo Phowa for us? I know we areDzogchen practitioners, but whatif someone is an accomplishedPhowa practitioner?A: It depends for whom they dothe Phowa. If it is an ordinary per-son, there is no problem. If some-one was a practitioner and hasknowledge of Guruyoga and is inthe state of Guruyoga, trying toPhowa for that person is ridicu-lous.

Q: Are there ways or signs thatcan determine how the dead per-son fared after death, how their

experience in the Bardo was;signs, dreams, etc?A: Sometimes we can have somedreams, some aspects can mani-fest, but not always. Some inter-esting people manifest some-thing, of course.

Q: If, as we are dying, we looseour mental functioning and areconfused because the brain isn’tworking normally, for example,due to a stroke or illness. Can westill practice on other levels? A: We are living an ordinary lifewith our six senses.Consciousness of six senses isdependent on our organs of sens-es, so dying means all the func-tions of our organs, of the ele-ments and our consciousness, isdissolving in the center. In the endwhen all that is dissolved, wecompletely lose this function.That moment is called dying. It issomething like the dark. Fromthat point, until we wake up againin the state of the Bardo ofExistence, there is no function ofmind. Before mind wakes up, inTantrism teaching it is called :nangwa, chedpa, thobpa,nyerthob; the four states of light.Slowly, slowly, like the earlymorning light, it becomes biggerand bigger and more and moreclear and at the end it is like sun-shine. At that moment the mind isworking. The mind is associatedwith the consciousness of senses,that is called the mental body.That is what we call death. But ifsomeone is in the state ofGuruyoga when they are dying,then at this moment there is nat-ural light, the state of naturallight, just like how we do practiceof the night. Then all our mani-festations of our real potentialitythrough sound, light and rays, are

naked in that moment and we alsodiscover our real potentiality.Particularly having experiencesof Shitro wrathful and peacefulmanifestations, all these manifes-tations, are connected with sound,light and rays. For that reason, forpractitioners, there is the possibil-ity of having realization of theSambhogakaya. Many good prac-titioners are not in the Bardo orordinary Bardo because beforethey reach that they can have real-ization.

Q: If a person lives to be old, andas an old person becomes veryconfused for many years, if thathappens to a practitioner can theystill be practicing, even thoughoutwardly they appear to be con-fused?A: Even a practitioner getting oldcan have mental problems. Aslong as we are alive, we aredependent on the condition of thephysical body. If we are leavingthe physical body, that is differ-ent. So if someone is very famil-iar with the state of contemplationthen maybe even if we have men-tal confusion as we are gettingold, there is also still such pres-ence and with that presence onecan notice what is going on. If weare being in instant presence thenwe are no longer dependent onmental confusions. Otherwise,then all is the same confusion andwhen we are dying we couldn’tbe in the state of Guruyoga. Itdepends on how we do practice, ifwe are a really good practitionerand if we have that capacity ornot.

Q: Do you have any suggestionsfrom your personal experience,when needing surgery and anes-thesia? What to do during those

d a i l y l i f e i n t h e m i r r o r

continued on page 27

26

R E F L E C T I O N S

“There is no solution becausethere is no problem.”(Marcel Duchamp)

I. Relax! Observe yourself! Relax!The main problems in daily life as well asin the Sangha are problems of communi-cation. Having done work in the field ofcommunication, I am experimenting tofind ways to integrate the experiences inthis field with the advice of our Teacher. Itis a bit scary and it might sound overlyambitious to relate enlightened speechwith our daily samsaric mess, but if wecannot turn the riches of those teachingsinto small coins for everyday life we can-not make real use of it. I want to discusssome communication problems and offera little ‘bag of tricks’ which I found help-ful in situations of misunderstandings andpoor communication. As samsaric beings, our interactions comein roughly the following three kinds: 1.neutral, more or less smooth communica-tion, exchanges of information, mak-ing/maintaining contact at work, everydayencounters, 2. deeply satisfying warm andprofound moments of communication,feeling understood and valued, as theyoccur in loving long term relationships butsometimes also in spontaneous encoun-ters. 3. Irritating conflicting situations, one orboth parties getting hurt or enraged. It canbe about big issues or ridiculously smallthings. Triggering all the sensitive andsore points and inter human allergies. Orleaving you with the feeling that we areliving on different planets.What strikes me in the Sangha is that thetypes two and three are unusually fre-quent. This seems to point to the fact thatthe Sangha is more like a family or mar-riage than a business. In the familymoments of effortless intimacy occur, butwhen there are conflicts,emotions tend torise higher than anywhere else.The Sangha meets additional difficulties.Whether we think of the Bodhisattva Vow,Tantric Pure Vision or the freedom ofDzogchen Self Perfection, without suffi-cient self-knowledge all these views turninto over-ambitious aims which make usoverrate our capacities, demanding per-fection of others while staying blind forour own limitations. At the other hand, ifwe are aware of them, communicationproblems are a great teacher since theyreflect flawlessly all our emotional ten-dencies, preconceptions and limitinghabits.We all know how often our Teacherreminds us to be aware of the way wecommunicate. Of course, the most impor-tant secret to good communication is toremain relaxed and to practice self obser-vation. The Teachings provide the onlyreally effective method to develop them.Nevertheless, if you have more awarenessabout communication processes, it is eas-ier to remain relaxed and self-aware indifficult situations. The principles I men-tion are the same principles we hear fre-quently in the Dharma Teachings. Thepoint is to apply them. If we don’t makethem concrete from moment to moment,lofty principles are a highway to self-deception rather than to liberation.

II. Communicate, communicate, collabo-rate

Why the repetition? The first ‘communicate’ means to get meout of my shyness (they are not exactlywaiting for my call), fear (I might get crit-icized and humiliated), reluctance (whatdo I get out of it?) or paranoia (they hateme, they think I am stupid, I’ll only makethings worse). The second one means perseverance:Don’t give up, continue to communicatein spite of tensions, conflicts and misun-derstandings. The third imperative, ‘collaborate’, isalmost redundant. To communicate wellmeans to collaborate. Collaborate meansfirst of all that you have a common goal.Being part of a Sangha means by defini-tion that we do have a common goal,stronger: we share the one and only realgoal of our life - Total Realization for our-selves and everybody else. But as long aswe lack total clarity, our individual goalslook sometimes as if they were conflict-ing. Ultimately this must be an illusion, sowe have to clarify what this illusion con-sists of. How does the disagreement comeabout? In fact, the feeling that we live on differ-ent planets is - in samsaric isolation - notso far off the truth. Each of us lives in theirown sphere or ‘dimension’, as our Teachersays. There is no ‘neutral’, ‘true’ defini-tion of the given situation. We have tokeep investigating how far the commonground of shared karmic vision goes. Wecannot take it for granted. That’s wherepatience and perseverance come into thepicture. Perseverance in finding out whatkeeps me from understanding the other,myself and the current situation.Why is perseverance so important?Because lack of understanding is in manycases ‘the perfect crime’: we don’t evenknow that a misunderstanding has hap-pened. So what we need in the first placeis an open minded curiosity. A mentalitywhich is not just looking for emotionalcomfort and confirmation of what wealready (think to ) know but being open tothe thought: I could just as well be wrong.At least I am aware that my view is limit-ed. I might have overlooked or misjudgedsomething. Putting it beyond wrong orright: I want to understand why the otherperson is acting so strangely or why I amso frustrated. So here we get trick numberone: First of all I transform ‘how awful’into ‘how interesting’ and put on theSherlock Holmes hat. This means we haveto cultivate the art of listening.

III. Discover and transform - just a fewpronounsIf we want to listen well, we have to knowwhat impedes good listening. There aredifferent kinds of hindrances. A major fac-tor are emotions we are not aware of. Incommunication the feeling of insecurityand the attitude of arrogance are particu-larly bothersome. They seem to be eachothers opposite, but their effect is verysimilar. Insecurity makes us defensive:our ears filter all messages for confirma-tion and potential threats. We are nolonger really curious, we just check: isthere support for my view or is this anattack. Arrogance creates a similar kindof blindness. We think we know the solu-tion, we don’t need to go deeper intounknown territory and we just look: is theother person intelligent, that means on ourside, or stupid. We are proud of our quickjudgement. We assume: we know the situ-

ation, we know this person, we know theirmotifs and hidden agendas. But do we know our own? We think wefollow actual information, but in mostcases we follow age-old scenarios - weturn any situation into the same old soapopera over and again. Let’s have a look at the scenarios whichsteer our perception of a conflict situation.Allow me a risky simplification, distin-guishing three basic models of increasingcomplexity.The most frequent and primitive pattern:good or bad, right or wrong. You are forme or against me. Blunt dualism: I amright, you are wrong. The fundamentalistmodel. God or the Guru is on my side; notyours! Since you overcome the gross par-tiality of the first view, you might under-stand: we are both right, we are bothwrong. This is certainly a deeper level ofinsight: there is not just an evil aggressorand an innocent victim, an idiot and agenius, a villain and a saint. It takes two totango. But there is no way out. We haveboth legitimate yet conflicting interestsand irredeemably different perspectives.This is the model of the Greek tragedy.Samsara without end. There is no one toblame, but also: there is no way out of thetragedy. The melancholic pessimistmodel.Both these models seriously limit the pat-terns of our behavior and the games weprefer to play. We tend to cast ourselvesand the other into the same complemen-tary roles over and over again, playingvariation after variation of the same kindof drama, - usually tragedy. It can givesome relief to realize: we can see thetragedy just as well as a comedy; a bit ofdistance and humor and sharp-mindedfriends can help to make the switch.Often we shift between dualistic roleswithout knowing. Now we are the coura-geous hero and now the innocent victim,now parent, now child, shy avoider orkeen manipulator, good girl or cruelavenging angel. The worst thing aboutthese roles is that they imply the definitionof the role of our partner, no matter howthey would like to define it. We perceivethem in role X while they think they areplaying role Y. What’s important to see is:Whenever we are limiting ourselves weare also limiting the other! The third model is going a step by a bigstep - further. It is the only one capable ofovercoming dualism: Discovering the hid-den perfection in the present situation.The present moment might not be painlessbut it is perfect, - in a sense that we maynot understand as yet. It is perfect becauseit is there. Immediately, we become moreinventive and relaxed when we start fromthe assumption: it is the best possible situ-ation, given all current circumstances andall our limitations. Then we start to ask,“What can the given situation tell me?” This attitude does not generate a particularpredictable kind of behavior. Sometimesthis attitude can mean that we soften ourline of behavior and give in, sometimesjust the opposite: maintaining firmly one’sown line of action, sometimes it mighteven mean challenging behavior. But itwill always come from a spacious sense ofcompassion. Accepting ‘what is’, includ-ing given limitations and not separatingoneself from the dimension of the othersis compassion. Ultimately this behavior isbased on nothing but the trust in the selfliberating power of relaxed presence and

awareness. Now and then we all knowexperiences where this really works. Butin situations of conflict we fall back intothe habit of distraction and dualism. Howdo we get rid of the tension and tunnelvision that befall us in difficult communi-cation situations?We can try to transform. Not into a deitybut transform some patterns in our innerchatter. I use a couple of linguistic tricksto change the endless line of inner com-ments, judgements and justifications. Inobserving my thoughts I try to change per-sonal pronouns. An interesting transfor-mation is to change ‘I’ and ‘them’ into‘we’. Once we notice these tendencies wecan just play with it and reformulate.When you do that with the honest wish toopen up to compassion, you can feel per-haps a subtle kind of internal shift, like inthe practice of Refuge and Bodhicitta,when you are sitting under the RefugeTree together with all the beings withwhom you have a connection, really feel-ing ‘we’ are sitting here together. We, theSangha, are sitting here together in theprecious boat of the teachings. We, in thisroom, all want to get something positiveout of it. We around this table want to finda solution to a problem. We, in this fight,want to break through our limitations.This change of pronouns can change thesocial climate in all kinds of situations. Itdoes not necessarily make you love or likethe other persons but it creates a neutralkind of solidarity. After all, we are in thesame boat.This shift is a way to reduce distance andseparation. The next language trickincreases distance; between me andmyself. It applies to the inner monologueaccompanying self-observation. I substi-tute ‘I’ by ‘her(him)’, i.e. turn first personinto third person in talking/thinking aboutmyself. What is ‘she’ doing now? Why isshe getting so upset? What is she afraidof? This trick can bring a bit of humor andself-irony into the situation, but it can alsoadd a touch of genuine non-defensivecompassion for yourself. Getting a littlemore distance between me and myselfmakes it easier to see the beam in my owneye and relativize the splinter in the eye ofthe other. This is similar to the dreampractice: I am dreaming this and I knowthat I am dreaming. Unfortunately, in spiteof this, the splinter of the other personmight still look very big and their point ofview still seems to be coming from analien. Then I can use another strategy: Look for similarities, create a mirrorimage. Pretend we are twins or at least(vajra) brothers and sisters. Try to catchyourself at the same kind of stupidity thatannoys you in the other person. Forinstance I find myself thinking: he/she isridiculous by getting so upset by some-thing I consider very small, oh what agiant ego he/she has! Well! Now I am get-ting upset about the same situation - whilefeeling quite superior! So I am just asridiculous, and worse: I’m arrogant aswell. Or you can look further than the pre-sent situation: this person is late atappointments. I am here in time, but am Inot always late with my tax papers orbehind deadlines with publications? I amgood at creating irritation too! I just pickother victims!

Part II Next issue #67

Communicating within the Sangha (Part 1)by Dorothea Franck

Nothing Short of a MiracleOri Klibanski’s miraculous recovery

Dorine and OriKlibanski recently

moved from Brooklyn,New York to Northamp-ton Massachusetts, tobe near Tsegyalgar. OnOctober 23rd Ori,Dorine’s 9 year old son,was hit by a car andseriously injured. It wasquestionable as towhether or not hewould survive. Ori isrecovering and the doc-tors are calling it a mir-acle.Dorine and Ori want tothank everyone in theworldwide DzogchenCommunity for thepractice and prayerson their behalf. Uponwaking from his comaof several days, Ori first expressed his appreciationand need for practice.Here is an excerpt from an article in theNorthampton Daily Hampshire Gazette on Nov. 8:

“Nothing Short of a Miracle”Doctors are calling his recovery miraculous. Twoweeks after being hit by an oncoming car on RyanRoad and suffering life-threatening injuries, 9-year-old Ori Klibanski is back at home and likely to makea full recovery.“The doctors are very, very, very surprised,” DorinKlibanski, Ori’s mother said Friday. Ori was rushed to the hospital in critical conditionOct. 23 after a car hit him with such force that itthrew him 85 feet. Police have determined that thedriver could not have prevented the accident.For 48 hours, doctors did not know if Ori would sur-vive. He lost a lot of blood, had a fractured skull, col-lapsed lung, broken rib, hip and leg, and otherinjuries.But, Ori’s mother said, Ori has a lot of love and pas-sion for life and was not ready to go. “Me and Ori,

we can’t imagine not being together. Klibanski, orig-inally from Israel, had been visiting the area’sBuddhist community for the past five years andmoved to Northampton about a month ago from

New York City.The accident happened duringOri’s first few weeks in fourthgrade at Ryan Road Schooland on his mother’s first dayat her new job as a hairdresserat Salon Herdis on MainStreet.Now Dorin Klibanski muststay at home full-time to takecare of Ori, who is beginninga long recovery process andneeds help getting around thehouse. Klibanski’s medicalinsurance expired Nov. 1 andhas been helped to get insuredby MassHealth.People have been amazed atOri’s recovery. The doctors atUMass Medical Center sentOri through a battery of testsand could not believe how

well he did on them and retested him. Based on theexcellent results, Ori does not have to enter Mass.General Hospital’s intensive rehabilitation programin Boston. The doctors called his recovery “miracu-lous.”Ori may need more surgeries and is still very trau-matized, his mother said. Dorin, too, is still copingfrom the trauma of the accident.“Ori is the most important, precious thing in mylife,” Dorin said. “I can’t imagine ... without him,”she said, falling silent in the middle of her sentence.Any donations may be mailed to Florence SavingsBank, 85 Main St., Florence, MA 01062. Checksshould be made to “Fund for Ori Klibanski.”

Donations may also be wired to Account#1980489786, Routing/ABA #211871688.

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 3 27

REFLECTIONS continued

moments?A: If someone is a practitionerthey try to be in a state ofGuruyoga. You can have moreexperience also later.

Q: Do you have any particularsuggestions for animals whenthey are sick or dying?A: For animals you can makesome benefit by singing the Songof Vajra or chanting mantra. TheMantras of the Six Liberationshave benefit.

Q: What is your feeling abouteuthanasia; if someone is suffer-ing a great deal is it acceptable toend their suffering by helpingthem to die?A: If someone has that kind ofproblem, maybe you should tryand get some medicine or some-thing for calming the pain. Somestrong medicine helps.

Q: Is there anything to do in par-ticular at the moment of birth?A: There are many things to do.You can read in the book of Birth

and Life; it is explained. Thereare also some mantras which canbe given and some mantras andsyllables can be written for thebenefit of the child, Manjushri,etc., so the child becomes intelli-gent, for example. Also, insteadof Manjushri, the seed syllable ofMandarava like hri or bam orBuddha Amitayus, etc., can begiven. This helps strengthen theirenergy. Also you can make thesesyllables, not on paper, but onhoney or something dry thatbecomes like a paper; the lettersare written on that and put on thetongue of the baby where it melts.

Q: Do you have any final advice?A: Being in Guruyoga. If you area practitioner that is definitelyuseful for everybody.

Q: Thank you so much,Rinpoche. Everyone will benefitfrom this.

DREAM ON THE 49TH DAYAFTER YOUR DEATH

The table is set with a white cloth andwe are all gathered around –

plates steam with ham and onions,yellow dogs lay at our feet –

when you rush in andoh lucky stars we embrace,

mother and daughter, liketwo clouds we meet

between realms.

by Barbara Paparazzo

Interview with ChNN on death & dying continued from page 25

Ahh, Dissolutionby George Pitagorsky

Upon hearing of the ending of along time relationship the fol-lowing came spontaneously tomind. I think it sums up thecombination of grief over lossand the hope for beginningwithin the frame of ultimatespace:Ahhh, dissolution brings with itthe sense of disappointment andsadness over loss and the hopeof transformation. Behind it all,emptiness; clarity.

Ori before his accident at Conway

important.In Merigar we sometimes have aproblem with the Gakyil. Somepeople are new in the Gakyil andhave the idea that the Gakyilshould control everything. That isnot good because when theGakyil controls everything; theycreate many problems. TheGakyil should be collaboratingwith people, not controlling. TheGakyil should feel it is responsi-ble for communicating and mak-ing things understood and collab-orating with people. In that waythere is no problem. When youtry to control you find that eachhuman being has a strong ego andit is not so easy. That is my opin-ion.For the new Gakyil here, we needpeople who already know how tocollaborate with different organi-zations and how to work together.That is something very important.For example, the Gakyil in Italyis a little different this year.Everything is more focused onthe method of organization devel-oped by Yeshi Namkhai.(see page5, the Economic Reorganizationof the Dzogchen Community)Everybody is studying this. Inthis case, people need to have alittle more experience of comput-ers and understand modern meth-ods of communication, etc. Wedon’t particularly need that here,but we need more people whocollaborate well.If there is a lack of agreement,problems arising and being creat-

ed, then we have no stable baseand that is not good. This stablebase is the first thing which isvery, very important for all ouractivities here.

Rinpoche: Fabio, do you havesomething to say?

Fabio: No, not really; only whatRinpoche has already said. InMargarita the business of theAloe has technical requirements,therefore you especially needpeople who have some technicalknowledge. Now there are peoplewho have some experience; Dickis trying to sell the Aloe andGilberto has been overseeingthings. You cannot put some newpeople in the Gakyil who have alot of ideas and sometimes a littlepride, and without knowing any-thing, without any preparation,they see that the Gakyil makesdecisions and want to decidethings and create a lot of prob-lems.

Rinpoche: That is very true.

Fabio: So it is very important thatthe people who are in the Gakyilunderstand very well and are pre-pared and humble enough to bewilling to listen and learn howthings are already being done.Sometimes people have noknowledge and create problems.Especially now, here, it would bea real risk if somebody startedacting like this on the Gakyil.

That is one of the reasons thatRinpoche’s son has proposed thissystem for the DzogchenCommunity. People start wantingto do things; not even asking theprevious Gakyil what they havealready done. They are redoingthe same thing; wasting time,money and people’s energy andcreating problems in the end. Soit is better not to go that way.

Martin Bortagaray: How doyou relate the Gakyil with thecompany’s activities?

Fabio: As Rinpoche said, there isa company but there is a Gar. Youcannot have the Gar run by thecompany. This cannot be.

Martin Bortagaray: It’s a com-pany within a Gar.

Fabio: Yes, the Gar is the princi-pal thing, the principal organiza-tion. If there was not a Gar andno Rinpoche, these houses wouldnot exist. But at the same time,you cannot have the Gakyildeciding for the company, the pri-vate people, what they should andshould not do. Also these peoplecannot forget that there is a Garand the Gar has its function,needs and dynamics and shouldbe respected. It is ridiculous tohave the Gakyil decide for thecompany. It is possible in somecases, related to some methodsand ethical issues. Also you can-not have the company running theGar - saying this is how you haveto do this and that, who can orcannot come. That is impossible.

Otherwise it is not a Gar but a pri-vate club. Sometimes the Gakyilis a little rigid and people comingfrom outside who are not familiarwith the matter may have somegood ideas, but many times theyjust want to jump on a wagon thatis already moving and do notknow what they are talking about.Maybe people have been spend-ing eight months trying to solve aproblem, and people from theoutside come in saying, “Whydon’t you solve the problem thisway?” (Fabio laughs) Also this isridiculous. It should be open fromboth sides. It is the only way thatmakes it work. Try to check thepride and the ego a little bit. Bereceptive, don’t abuse the otherperson, but listen from both sides.Otherwise it is difficult, very dif-ficult.

ADVICE ON THE FUNCTION OF GAKYILAND OTHER ENTITIES

continued from page 20

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28

Dream, Game, Encounterby Des Barry

Iwas brought up a Catholic. Iwent through a period of athe-

ism during my teens but before Iwas twenty, around 1970, likemany others of my generation, Ihad a powerful experience withLSD which shattered my atheism.Like many at the time, I began astudy of Western esotericism,Castaneda, Jung, dreams, and Ari-ca movements, which were meantto coordinate body and mind. Forall my passionate exploration ofstates of consciousness, by theend of 1977, I felt that I had hit awall and I couldn’t make any fur-ther spiritual progress by doingwhat I was doing on my own. Ihad studied simple sitting medita-tion with Sogyal Rinpoche but Ifelt no attraction whatsoever toTibetan Buddhism as it remindedme too much of Catholicism withits statues, saints and rituals. OnJanuary 1st 1978, I gave up allhard drugs, but I hadn’t yet givenup hashish. A few months later, Ihad a very powerful dream, whichI have never forgotten. This is it.

I was in my small, ground-floor bed-sit in London, where Ilived with my girlfriend. A youngman came into the room. He haddark, shoulder-length hair. Hesaid that he was a Games Masterand asked if I was interested inplaying a game. He said that thisgame had no strict rules, andthere was no way to know whoelse was playing, but that, some-how, the game involved role-playing. I was intrigued.

“Well how is it played?” Isaid.

“I’ll give you an example,”the Games Master said. “I’ll goout of the room, and when I comeback in, I’m going to frighten thelife out of you.”

I laughed. Forewarned isforearmed, I thought. There’s noway he can possibly frighten me. He left the room. A few minuteslater, he came back in. He wasdressed in the black uniform ofthe Waffen S.S. with swastikaarmband and skull emblems. Noproblem.

“While you were in heredoing nothing,” he said, “I’ve juststrangled a four-year-old child todeath, right outside your door.”

I was horrified. Horrified thatfor the sake of this stupid game,he would go so far as to kill aninnocent child to prove that hecould frighten me. I wanted to killhim. At the same time, I didn’twant to have anybody’s murderon my own hands. I was in totalconfusion. I ran out through theFrench doors of my bed-sit andinto the garden so that I wouldn’tlose control and kill this bastard. Iran to the garden fence. I sensedsomething behind me and Iturned around to look back at thehouse.

The Games Master wasstanding on the terrace. He waswearing a dramatic black cloakand held a long wooden staff inhis hand. Completely irrationally,this terrified me more than themurder. I tried to climb over thefence, lost my balance, and plum-meted forward. My face hit thedirt of the flowerbed and Iblacked out.

When I came to, I was on mybed. My girlfriend wasn’t there.

The room was quiet. I sat up inbed and looked toward the gardenbeyond the French doors. At thatmoment, the long wooden staffcame in through the cat-door thathad been cut into the bottom ofone door. And then the hand thatgripped the staff appeared. I wasterrified but insane with rage.This time, I was determined that Iwas going to kill the GamesMaster for murdering the child.The cat-door somehow expandedand the Games Master’s headappeared. I grabbed the staff andwrenched it out of his hand inorder to beat him to death. Helooked up at me and I knew that Ihad been duped. “I told you I was going to fright-en you,” he said. “And you fellfor it completely.”

I was in a state of shock.There had never been any childmurder. I had been totally fooled.“Do you want to continue play-ing?” he asked.

I nodded. This was no ordi-nary game. I was hooked.

“The next part of the gametakes place in Paris,” he said.“You have to go to the cemeterybehind the Place Pigalle, inMontmartre, and find the femaleguardian of the cemetery. She’lltell you about the next part of thedream. I’ll show you a tunnelwhere you can begin your jour-ney.”

The Games Master took meout of the house and onto the dis-used railway track that runs fromCrouch Hill to Highgate. After awhile, we came to the entrance ofa railway tunnel and he indicatedsome steps that led down into acave. I descended the steps alone.The cave at the bottom of thesteps had some lights in the dampwalls so that I was able to see. Ibegan walking. More tunnelsjoined the one that I was in. Andmore people appeared as if thiscave complex was the thorough-fare of an underground city. Theother people said nothing to me.When I reached a kind of cross-roads, I asked someone the wayto Paris and he pointed out whichdirection to go. I followed thepassage and then came up somesteps and came out into the grave-yard through the door of a sepul-chre vault.

It was night. There were otherpeople in the cemetery as if aparty was going on. A young manwelcomed me.

“I’m looking for the womanwho is guardian of the cemetery,”I said.

“There she is,” the youngman said. “She’s in charge of thispart of the game.”

I looked across at a terrace ofbuildings and – through the rowof windows – I saw an oldwoman, very lithe and healthy,passing along the corridor.

“I want to talk to her,” I said.“No need,” said the young

man. “I can tell you everythingyou need to know. This next partof the game is a team game. We,from this cemetery, are playingagainst a team who are based in acemetery in the south of Paris.You have to go out into the cityand see what you find. You won’tknow who’s playing and who’snot. There aren’t any specificrules so you have to keep yourwits about you and work out whatyou have to do depending on

what’s going on around you.”It was dawn now. He took me

out to the cemetery gates wherehe gave me a motorcycle andwished me luck. I drove off into

the city and headed south pastOpera and across the Seine. Thestreets were quite deserted. It wassome kind of national holiday.Close to a park, the motorcycleran out of fuel. I coasted into aservice station but it was closed. Ileft the bike there and walkeddown into the park. Just beyondthe entrance was a narrow path-way with a flimsy fence on oneside and a vertical drop on theother. Pressing against the flimsyfence was a huge crowd whoseemed to be waiting for someimportant personage to arrive. Ibalanced my way between thecrowd and the vertiginous dropand came out on a hillside.

At the top of the hill, I saw anold school-friend of mine. He waswith a man, a woman and a baby.I walked up the grassy slope andjoined them. The woman wasvery beautiful and I wanted tomake love with her. She washolding the baby. It was a verystrange-looking creature withpointed ears and ridges that ranfrom the nostrils, under thecheekbones and up to the ears.The child’s appearance made mefeel quite uncomfortable. I saidhello to the adults.

“I wish I could communicateto the baby, too,” I said.

The baby looked up at me andsaid, in a strong Brooklyn accent,

“Why dontcha just open yourgod-damn mouth and talk?”

I felt a bit shocked. I stayedwith these friends for a while andtold them that I was just taking awalk around the city. I asked ifthere was another way out of thepark. The dark-haired womanoffered to show me. She was veryaffectionate. I looked around for aplace where we might make lovewithout being seen but there werepeople everywhere and the bush-es were very sparse. We reachedthe gate and I felt that I’d lost anopportunity to connect with her.

We said goodbye at the gateand I walked into the city. I saw aposter advertising that an Orientalmaster was teaching some kind ofmartial art at a nearby church hallthat day. It intrigued me and Iwent off and found the church.

I went inside. The master wasin his forties. He was dressed in awhite Karate-gi. I joined someother students and the masterdemonstrated some movements.At the end of the class, he beganto whisper something in my ear. Ididn’t know what he was sayingbut I was suddenly in a very pow-

erful, altered state of conscious-ness with a tremendous sensationof bliss and well-being. The classfinished and I walked out onto thestreet, still a little stunned andblissful. I passåed by the shopwith the poster and I read it again.The Master’s course was finish-ing that day. I ran back to thechurch. The beautiful womanfrom the park stood outside thedoor but the door was all lockedup. I was desperately disappoint-ed.

“Don’t worry,” she said.“You’ll meet him again.”

And at that point, I woke up,still stunned that I seemed to havelived for about three days in onlythree hours of sleep.

On the following Saturday, ata contemporary dance class, Ifound out from one of the dancersthat there was, in fact, a cemeteryin Paris behind Pigalle inMontmartre. I was so convincedof the significance of the dreamthat I went to Paris from Londonto find the cemetery. I stayed inPigalle, the red light district ofParis.

In the early morning, I wentto the cemetery. I walked aroundand found nothing of signifi-cance. As I was coming out, Inoticed a small round garden.Because I had read Jung, Ithought that it would be auspi-cious if I walked into the centre ofthis ‘mandala.’ It turned out to bea strange mandala to me becauseit was split into three sectionsrather than four. I left the ceme-tery. After a tour of the stripjoints, I returned to my girlfriendin London.

The following Easter, I begana vacation from my job as alibrary assistant at a London col-lege. For some months, I hadbeen wanting to give up smokinghashish (the last of the drugs Iwas using, other than alcohol). Ithad been impossible for me togive up smoking while I wasworking but now I had ten daysfree. I woke up on the first morn-ing of the holiday and I knew thatI had to go out for a walk. Mygirlfriend had no intention of giv-ing up hash at the time and therewas a large piece of Ketama hashon a board, right next to the bed.If I stayed at home, I knew that Iwas going to smoke it.

I left the house. Some dayspreviously, I had seen a posteradvertising a teaching by H.H.Dudjom Rinpoche but I couldn’tremember the time or date. Idecided to go for a walk as far asOrgyen Cho Ling, SogyalRinpoche’s centre in London, inorder to find out more informa-tion. I thought that perhaps thatDudjom Rinpoche, who was headof the Nyingmapa School, mightbe able to help me find a way for-ward in this exploration of con-sciousness.

I walked across the disusedrailway line from Crouch Hill toHighgate, and from there, acrossHampstead Heath to Kilburn andOrgyen Cho Ling, theNyingmapa Centre then onPrincess Road. I rang the door-bell. A man with a beardanswered the door. I said that Iwas looking for information onDudjom Rinpoche. He told methat Dudjom Rinpoche was inParis at that time and that SogyalRinpoche was there too, translat-

ing for him. Then he very kindlyinvited me inside for lunch.

I asked if there was anythingelse happening at the centre. Hesaid no, not until DudjomRinpoche came, but there hap-pened to be a Lama upstairs at themoment who had come for lunchand that this Lama had agreed toteach a little in the afternoon. Iasked if I might stay, and SogyalRinpoche’s student said that itwas no problem.

After lunch I went into theshrine room with this man. Otherstudents of Sogyal Rinpochewere also there. I felt a bit uncom-fortable with all the statues andthrones and thankas. A whispercame from the doorway, “TheLama’s coming.” Everyone stoodup and faced the throne.

A beautiful blond-hairedwoman in white came into theroom, and then a beautiful blond-haired woman in turquoise fol-lowed her. A huge man with a bigbeard and a shaved head followedthese women in, and then last ofall a thin, wiry Tibetan man withlongish black hair, a red shirt,white trousers and an old parka.The Tibetan man looked aroundthe room and then went and sat onthe cushions at the back.Everyone turned around, all a lit-tle confused. The Lama askedeveryone to sit down and then hesaid, “You have to be carefulwhen you build a centre for theteachings because it’s easy to for-get that the real centre is not thebuilding, but what’s inside. That’sthe real centre.”

He then asked the woman inturquoise to demonstrate somemovements from a kind of yoga.When this was over, he said, “I’mdoing a retreat for ten days inanother part of London. If you’reinterested, you can come therewhere I’ll be giving Dzogchenteachings.”

Then he and his three stun-ning students got up and left.

I was in a state of shock. I wascompletely convinced that thiswas the Oriental Master that I haddreamed exactly a year and a daybeforehand. I had ten days vaca-tion from my job. I was certainthat I was going to this retreat. Iwent home and told my girlfriendand went to the teaching thatevening. I was a bit incoherent totell the truth so I left her ratherconfused.

For the next ten days, thisNamkhai Norbu Rinpoche taughton meditation, yoga, dreams,everything in which I had beeninterested, but I had only suc-ceeded in scratching the surfaceof a kind of knowledge, which Iknew was far deeper. Thisteacher, I was convinced, was thereal thing. After a few days, mygirlfriend also came to the teach-ings, and herself became a stu-dent of Norbu Rinpoche.

Finally I got around to speak-ing with Norbu Rinpoche after ateaching, and I recounted mydream, with the beautiful NancySimmonds translating for me. I’ma bit ashamed to say that I weptmy lungs out as I was telling it.

When it came to the last dayof the retreat, I went up to NorbuRinpoche in the kitchen of thehouse where the retreat had beenheld. I had gone to say goodbye,thinking that he would hardlyremember someone so new from

How I Met Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

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