Launching of The Three Doors Vision

Transformative Practices for Body, Speech and Mind

Kallon Basquin (L) and other sangha members. Photograph by ME McCourt

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 mistaken "I," its imagination, and the suffering that is the result. Each week he gave us tools to face the pain body rather than running from it. He guided us to observe it nakedly and to arrive at the truth beneath the suffering of the pain body. That truth is held in the refuge place of stillness, silence and spaciousness. We learned to recognize how the pain body masquerades as truth and how it can be dissolved to reveal the profound spaciousness and freedom that are our birthright. We began to recognize how suffering and hidden obstacles distract us from our sacred body by creating the pain body as well as pain speech, pain mind, and pain actions. And we learned how to use special practices to disperse the pain body and awaken the sacred body. Those practices are the Nine Breathings of Purification, Tsa Lung, Five Warrior Syllables, and the Fivefold Teachings of Dawa Gyaltsen.

Serenity Ridge. Photograph by Rose Lettiere

Some of us had heard that Rinpoche was working with a handful of students, training them to use these practices first to transform their own lives, then to support others to do the same. But few could have imagined the scope of Rinpoche’s vision, or his profound and lasting commitment to the full realization of this vision. For a long time, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche has seen the need to offer the teachings to those outside the world of Buddhism. He has had a burning desire to share the pith-essence teachings on self-realization with people of all religions and philosophical beliefs. About three years ago, this desire became a specific vision. Now that vision is gradually being realized. It is called The Three Doors, which refers to the three opportunities we have of body, speech, and mind, doors through which we can discover our true nature. This summer, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche unveiled the creation of this non-religious organization.

The Three Doors does not have financial or organizational ties to Ligmincha Institute. Its mission is to present transformative practices to the modern world in a form free of religious or mystical wrappings, free of the ritual and cultural expressions that can end up excluding people who would benefit from it. The Three Doors is for the modern public, serving them by presenting the ancient-wisdom meditation practices of the Bon-Buddhist tradition in modern language. It is a system of powerful, proven methods presented in clear language, available to all, offering a complete and practical path to awakening. The Three Doors is a gateway for anyone who wants to expand and enjoy the positive capacities of his or her life and to benefit others by doing so.

Structurally, The Three Doors has two main branches. One branch offers a series of weekend seminars to the general public. These will begin in 2011 in the United States, with programs in Mexico and Europe to follow. In these weekend seminars, participants will learn The Three Doors practices and how to apply them very specifically to the suffering, challenges, and aspirations of their daily lives.

The second branch of The Three Doors is an extensive training program for experienced practitioners longing for deep personal growth and interested in being authorized by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche to take The Three Doors teachings into the world to help others. This rigorous three-year teacher-training program is called The Directors Academy. Two Directors Academy training courses will begin in 2011, one in April at Serenity Ridge in Shipman, Virginia, and one in August in Europe (Germany). The Directors Academy will also begin offering courses in Mexico in the near future.

The Directors Academy training program involves twice-yearly group retreats and year-round practice under the tutelage of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and senior trainers. Those trainees who successfully complete the program will have undergone deeply personal transformations of the pain body, freeing themselves from many of its recurring restrictions.

This program is The Real Deal! Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s gift to us and the world is a powerful, effective approach to transforming our personal lives, relationships, and work experiences, as well as our perception of what is possible.

For further information about The Directors Academy, check the Website at www.the3doors.org or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For information about the European Directors Academy in August 2011, visit the Website or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The application process for the U.S. Directors Academy opens in October of this year. The application process for the European Directors Academy will open after January 2011.

Kallon Basquin
Director
The Three Doors