Teaching Issue

Volume 11, Number 7 / October 2011

Letter From the Editors

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Great News!

Dear Friends,

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche has a new book! Seven years in the making, Tibetan Yogas of Body, Speech and Mind will be released in a few days by Snow Lion Publications and is available now for preorder in the Tibet Shop. We have included a brief excerpt in this issue and wanted to let you know to also keep an eye out for Snow Lion Magazine, which will feature an excerpt from the new book on the front page of its fall issue. (To view the most recent issue, go to www.snowlionpub.com and click on “Snow Lion Magazine” at the top of the page.) Polly Turner, longtime student and the communications director at Ligmincha Institute, edited the book and worked closely with Rinpoche on it over the past several years as a true labor of love.

As you’ll see below, there’s quite a lot going on this month! Rinpoche’s two live Internet talks and upcoming teachings at Serenity Ridge with H.E. Menri Lopon Trinley Nyima Rinpoche, head teacher (Lopon) of Menri Monastery. There are also two online workshops with Tenzin Rinpoche starting this month:
• Oct. 8-29, 2011 — Tibetan Sound Healing
• Oct. 15 - Dec. 3 — Introduction to the Five Elements: Healing With Form, Energy and Light

Once again we would like to thank all of you who have shared your experiences, writings and photographs through VOCL. This issue includes a brief but powerful sharing about trul khor (Tibetan yoga). VOCL would like to invite you to consider sharing in the Voice your personal heart experiences from any of the upcoming retreats. To email us your writings or photographs, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

In Bon,

Aline and Jeff Fisher
Editors, Voice of Clear Light

The Answer Beyond the Intellect

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An Excerpt From Rinpoche's Newest Book, Tibetan Yogas of Body, Speech and Mind

Gaining knowledge is an important part of the spiritual path, and there are endless possibilities for expanding one’s intellectual learning. Yet the conceptual mind has a way of creating a lot of confusion, doubt, and distress, and the entire intellectual path tends to become a question in search of a single answer. Ultimately, the answer itself is beyond the reach of the intellect.

I feel that I have had some success in presenting the quintessential points of the teachings and providing a means to direct experience through effective practice. For me, a successful retreat is when people from a variety of different intellectual backgrounds and levels of meditative experience feel a collective benefit in meditation practice. Their training and intellectual understanding may differ, but in the experiential aspect all divisions are dissolved: Everyone participating arrives at a single place.

Is it possible to have a genuine experience without going through many years of intellectual training? The answer is yes. The process begins with receiving the wisdom teachings known as the dharma. But hearing or reading about the teachings is not enough. Neither is reflecting on what you have heard or having good intentions to practice meditation. Many people feel that because they go to retreats and accumulate knowledge they are good practitioners, but the teaching cannot ripen in you until you actually practice it and your practice begins to deepen. Your ability to experience the great bliss that comes from recognition of your true nature depends on nothing but practice.

By helping you discover a deep source of knowledge and wisdom, meditation practice can bring you to the sense of connection, completion, and fulfillment that you yearn for. Ultimately, it can help you arrive at the more profound sense of peace and happiness that comes only from connecting with your deeper essence.

Ideally, you should be open to the infinite possibility of intellectual learning but not get lost in it. Through study combined with practice, you can gain direct experience of the truth in the simplest of places: within your own body, speech, and mind.

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You can learn more about Rinpoche’s new book on Ligmincha’s Facebook page, and you can order the book now from Ligmincha Institute's Bookstore & Tibet Shop >

Mark Your Calendar!

Live Webcasts With Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

Rinpoche will give two free live webcasts in coming days:

• This Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011, 12 noon ET (New York Time) — guided meditation practice (for our Internet audience only)

• This Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011, 7 p.m. ET — 'Clearing What's Blocking You.' Part of Tenzin Rinpoche's series on creativity, this will be a live broadcast of a free public talk offered in partnership with Unity Church, Charlottesville, Va.

Learn more / enter the broadcast site >

For Spanish-speaking viewers: Participants can access a real-time Spanish translation of Rinpoche's teaching/guided practice at this link >

The Three Heart Mantras Teaching and a Dzogchen Retreat

This Month With H.E. Menri Lopon Trinley Nyima Rinpoche

On October 22 His Eminence Menri Lopon Trinley Nyima Rinpoche, head teacher of Menri Monastery in Dolanji, India, will be giving a daylong teaching on the Three Heart Mantras at the Serenity Ridge Retreat Center in Nelson County, Virginia. The registration deadline is Wednesday, Oct. 19. Learn more or register >

October 19-23: His Eminence will give the teachings of The Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung, Part 3, at Serenity Ridge. (The above teaching on the Three Heart Mantras is included in the price of this dzogchen retreat.) Learn more or register >

Benefits of Tibetan Yoga

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Two Students Share Their Personal Experiences

The next Tibetan yoga (trul khor) retreat will take place Nov. 3 through 6, 2011, at Ligmincha Institute’s Serenity Ridge Retreat Center in Nelson County, Va. It is open to both beginners and experienced practitioners and will be led by Alejandro Chaoul-Reich, who has been teaching Tibetan yoga for many years. We asked a few students of Ale’s to share a little about their experiences with these practices.

I was a chronic pain sufferer for years. A-Tri Trul Khor helped bring the end of it at Chamma Ling Colorado with Ale in 2008. The short version of my first experience is as follows. As Ale was giving his introductory talk I was reading ahead in the handout. When I read about the last movement I thought "Hop on one foot! Are you nuts? I can't even stand on one of my feet." At that point, Ale came into my awareness and said "trust." And I said "okay." By the end of the retreat I was walking pain free and doing the movements. I was able to do prostrations when before I could not. I then went to the Zhang Zhung Nyam Gyud ngondro retreat with Tenzin Rinpoche. And since then I have gone to the ZZNG cycles of trul khor currently offered and this has been an infinite boon to my practice. Thank you Rinpoche for making these available and thank you Ale for teaching them!

— Gerry Heikes

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I first experienced trul khor during Winter Retreat three years ago. The movements made me feel really alive, and I noticed that the air sort of sparkled after I completed all the jumping and lying down on the tarp outside at Serenity Ridge. I knew I had to do these strange movements. Well, I have been practicing trul khor for two years now and have taken it as a daily practice. At first doing such vigorous movements had distracting effects, such as feeling very sensitive, sometimes over-energized, but overall I could feel my sensorium/energy flowing like I never had before. 

I spoke to Alejandro about this and he suggested that I do it at night so that I am not opening up and then dealing with the hectic quality of the day. This suggestion changed everything. I practice at night before I go to bed. I call it "brushing my chakras." All the energy, thoughts, vibes, etc., that I collect during the day I wash away with the movements at night. The result has been a more liminal state of sleep, restful; and sometimes I feel much more lucid, and tremendous, even energetic all the time. I have never had so much energy and I am 47 years old. The practice also really started to have an effect when I began doing the tsa lung exercises first, followed by one set of trul khor. I have found that over time the practice mellows and the sensitivities settle down. The entire set of practices can be done in 25 minutes.

One last note: I have found that doing this practice while sick really makes you aware of its power. You can feel your lungs clear of congestion when doing the torso exercise, which is kind of amazing! I feel so lucky to have encountered and learned this practice.

— Doreen Maloney

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For more information about the Nov. 3-6, 2011, Tibetan Yoga Retreat with Alejandro, or to register now, click here >

Ligmincha Europe Magazine

New Name, Same Great Quality!

Be sure to check out the second edition of Ligmincha’s European Newsletter, just released last month. It is chock-full of interviews, pictures, announcements, sangha writings and more. Thank you to all of the contributors. You can find it at www.ligmincha.eu

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 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 434-263-6304.

Oct. 22, 2011
The Three Heart Mantras
A One-Day Teaching With H.E. Menri Lopon Trinley Nyima Rinpoche
Registration deadline is Wednesday, Oct. 19. Please join us for this special daylong teaching with His Eminence Menri Lopon Trinley Nyima Rinpoche, as we explore the healing power and beauty of the Three Heart Mantras. If you are new to the Bon tradition, curious about it, or an experienced practitioner, don't miss this opportunity to receive these precious teachings from the head teacher of Menri Monastery, one of the two most important Bon monasteries outside of Tibet.
Learn more or register >

Oct. 19 - 23, 2011
The Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung, Part 3
Dzogchen Teachings With H.E. Menri Lopon Trinley Nyima Rinpoche
We are honored by this special opportunity to receive dzogchen teachings from His Eminence Menri Lopon Trinley Nyima Rinpoche, the head instructor of Menri Monastery in Dolanji, India.
Prerequisite: Participants must have received the teachings for Parts 1 and 2 of the Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung in order to attend these teachings.
Learn more or register >


Oct. 21-23, 2011
Ngondro Practice Retreat
With Kim Cary
Come for one, two, or all three days! Those who have received the teachings and transmission for the Bon Ngondro practice are cordially invited to attend this intensive practice retreat at Ligmincha Institute's Serenity Ridge Retreat Center in Nelson County, Va. Registration is required.
Learn more or register >

Nov. 3 - 6, 2011
Tibetan Yoga: Magical Movements for Your Awakened Body
A Tsa Lung Trul Khor Retreat with Alejandro Chaoul-Reich
Whether you are a newcomer or have already received this training, we warmly encourage you to attend this retreat. There is no prerequisite for attending.
Learn more or register >

Dec. 27, 2011 - Jan. 1, 2012
The Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung, Part 4
Annual Winter Dzogchen Retreat With Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Prerequisite: Participants must have received the teachings for Parts 1 and 2 of the Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung in order to attend these Part 4 teachings.
Learn more or register >

Feb. 18-19, 2012
New Dialogues Between Buddhism and Science
With Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and guest speakers.
More details to come soon!

April 11-15, 2012
Bring Your Life Into Bloom
Exploring the Creative Process With Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Join us for a unique opportunity to free yourself from creative obstacles, nurture your capacity for joyful self-expression, and make positive changes in your life.
Learn more or register >

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 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 434-263-6304, or go to:

https://www.ligmincha.org/retreats/retreats.html