Teaching Issue
Volume 10, Number 10 / October 2010
Letter From the Editors
Some Important News
This issue of VOCL contains two excerpts of teachings by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, the first on the fruits of cultivating open awareness and the second containing an explanation of Rinpoche's evolving approach to the teachings. Following this is some important news about the launch of a groundbreaking new More >
“A Good Sign That Practice Is Working”
An Edited Excerpt From Oral Teachings Given by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Summer 2006
A good sign that meditation practice is working for you is when you start feeling happy for no obvious reason. You are not necessarily feeling happy because someone has said something nice to you or has given you a special gift — you are just feeling happy. Or, in a spontaneous, uninvited, unplanned, effortless way, you may find that you have thoughts of helping others or of being kind to them.
When you start becoming more and more conscious of changes like these, clearly this is a very good sign. Why? Because it is More >
‘I Will Teach This Way for the Rest of My Life’
An Edited Excerpt From Oral Teachings Given by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Summer 2010
Over the past two decades, longtime students of Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche have noticed a gradual distillation of his approach to the teachings. Today, Rinpoche’s teachings consistently reveal a decided emphasis on simplicity, clarity, and practical relevance of instruction, with an intention to help students of all levels arrive at a potent experiential understanding of the essence of a given meditation practice through the doorway of their own individual conditions. Last summer Rinpoche explained the evolution of this teaching approach.
Each of the dzogchen masters of the Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyu practiced for a lifetime, and each came up with five lines as their pith teaching. In my own teachings I am emphasizing relating the teachings to your everyday lives and recognizing your own immediate conditions of body, speech, and mind. These are my five lines.
I am confident of the importance and validity of More >
Introducing the Three Doors
A Letter From Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Dear Beloved Sangha and Friends,
Since coming to the West over 20 years ago to share the teachings of Bon Buddhism, I have seen many people benefit in their personal, relational and professional lives from Bon's legacy of wisdom and compassion. Over those two decades I have continually worked on how best to present the teachings coherently and effectively in a cultural context so different from my own. Almost without exception, the More >
Launching of The Three Doors Vision
Transformative Practices for Body, Speech and Mind
Though we didn’t know it at first, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche had something very special in store for those of us attending Ligmincha’s 2010 Summer Retreat. A long-held vision of Rinpoche’s began to reveal itself over the three weeks as he lovingly encouraged us to face our “pain body." The pain body, he explained, is that More >
This November: Live Webcast, Online Workshop
New Internet Teachings With Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s final live Webcast of 2010, entitled Nourishing Your Inner Being, will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 16, from 7 - 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time U.S. (New York time). This will be a broadcast of a free public talk offered in partnership with Unity Church, Charlottesville, Va. If you can More >
International Sangha News
Students Report From Around the World
Sharings From Retreatants at Serenity Ridge
From Oct. 6 to 10, 2010, Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche taught at Serenity Ridge about “Sleep of Clear Light: The Practice of Sleep Yoga.” Students received instructions in how to bring more lucidity to both their waking and sleeping hours. A particularly memorable part of the instruction involved staying awake all one night and into the next day while continuing to engage in regular meditation practice. At day’s end, after finally drifting More >
Upcoming Retreats
Ligmincha’s Serenity Ridge Retreat Center
The retreats described below will take place at Serenity Ridge, Ligmincha Institute’s retreat center in Nelson County, Va. To register or for more information, click on the links below, or contact us at
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or 434-263-6304.
Nov. 3 - 7, 2010
Tibetan Yoga, Part 2: Trul Khor Training From the Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyu
With Alejandro Chaoul-Reich
The contemplative movements of Tibetan Yoga (trul khor) enable us to enter all three doors of body, energy and mind through a single practice, offering a powerful, skillful means for clearing the obstacles and obscurations to openness and clarity in meditation practice. Open to students who have received the Part 1 teachings of Trul Khor (Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyu) since Jan. 1, 2000.
Learn more or register >
Nov. 16, 2010, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time U.S. (New York time)
Live Internet Broadcast
‘Nourishing Your Inner Being,’ With Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
This will be a live Webcast of a free public talk in Charlottesville, Va., offered in partnership with Unity Church.
Attend in person >
Enter the broadcast site >
Dec. 27, 2010 - Jan. 1, 2011
Dzogchen: The View, Meditation, Behavior, and Result
The Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung, Part 3
With Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
The Experiential Transmission of the Zhang Zhung Masters is the centerpiece of Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s dzogchen teachings and is presented at Serenity Ridge each year at our winter retreat. Prerequisite: Practitioners who have already received the Part 2 or higher-level teachings in a previous cycle of Chag Tri teachings are warmly invited to attend this retreat.
Learn more or register >
New: Extend your stay! You may stay up to three days after the winter retreat for personal retreat time. For more information or to register for an extended stay, contact the Ligmincha office at >
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or 434-263-6304
April 13 - 17, 2011
Living With Joy, Dying in Peace:
Gaining Comfort and Intimacy With the Dying Process
Annual Spring Retreat With Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Denying our own mortality not only separates us from the vibrancy of living in the moment, it also leaves us ill equipped for the critical moment when death comes to ourselves or to our loved ones. The Bon Buddhist tradition is rich with knowledge and methods for using this Great Moment wisely. Through teachings and guided meditations, in this five-day retreat Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will help us to: recognize death as a doorway to opening the heart and achieving self-realization; prepare for our own death; and learn how to promote a more peaceful, uplifting dying process in others.
Learn more or register >
June 26 - July 16, 2011
The Six Lamps
19th Annual Summer Retreat With Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Details to come soon!
To register for any of the above retreats, or for more information about teachings in the Bon Buddhist tradition of Tibet, please contact us at
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or 434-263-6304, or go to:
