Voice of Clear Light

Volume 12, Number 6 / December 2012 

A Letter From Ligmincha’s Executive Director

The Year in Review – 2012

What a year! This year marks the 20th anniversary since Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche founded Ligmincha Institute. It has been a year of reflection, both looking at the past and looking toward the future. So much has been accomplished through Tenzin Rinpoche's tireless efforts worldwide in bringing the precious Bon teachings to so many of us, bringing awareness of the vast teachings of this tradition into our hearts and minds.

Over the last 20 years, Rinpoche has started centers and groups throughout the world. The main retreat centers are Serenity Ridge, Virginia, the international headquarters of Ligmincha worldwide; Chamma Ling Colorado, for personal retreats; Chamma Ling Mexico, in Valle de Bravo and Torreon—home of two incredible stupas; and Chamma Ling Poland, with its stupa. Efforts are now under way for a new European retreat center based in Germany to serve the whole of the European sangha.

News from Serenity Ridge

At Serenity Ridge, we have had a full year of retreats, including Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's teachings on Creativity, The Six Lamps (part 2), Awakening the Luminous Mind and, coming up at the end of December, the Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung Part 5, which completes a five-year cycle of dzogchen teachings. Rinpoche will begin the Zhang Zhung cycle again at our Winter Retreat in December 2013. Other Serenity Ridge retreats this year included Marcy Vaughn's practice retreat on Sherap Chamma, Alejandro Chaoul-Reich's second of a four-part Trul Khor retreat and John Jackson's Introduction to Meditation weekend course. Scientists gathered at Serenity Ridge in February for a two-day dialogue on Buddhism and science.  Geshe Nyima Kunchap performed a soul retrieval ritual and healing practice of Sipe Gyalmo ritual. In addition, the first year of the two-year Soul and Life-Force Retrieval Program took place, with Geshe Kunchap teaching the first session and Geshe YongDong teaching the second, both assisted by Khandro Tsering Wangmo and Raven Cypress Wood. We have hosted Tibetan doctor Amchi Thupten Tsering monthly at Serenity Ridge since September for both lectures and consultations. We also hosted a number of groups who rented our center, including The Three Doors.

This has been a time of reflection, too. Our strategic planning committee, Dowdell and Kat Brown, Rob and Eileen Patzig, John Massie, Gabriel Rocco, Marcy Vaughn, Norman Dill and I have continued meetings. In discussion with Tenzin Rinpoche, the main focus has been to reflect on ways to support and expand Ligmincha Institute and Serenity Ridge over the next 20 years. At our summer retreat, Board members and organizers from the international sangha joined us to reflect on how we can together better support the mission and each other. Recognizing the need for a resident lama, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche invited Geshe Tenzin Yangton to be the resident lama at Serenity Ridge. We are currently in process of filing the necessary immigration forms, with the assistance of a lawyer who has offered his services pro bono, and hope Geshe Yangton will join us full-time by next summer.

To continue with the physical support for programs and events at Serenity Ridge, we are researching and exploring the possibility of building a new kitchen and dining hall. We will keep everyone informed as this moves along.

Last year a generous donation was made of a piece of property in Rangeley, Me. We had hoped to turn it into a retreat center. After exploring the costs to renovate the building there and looking at the overall planning for Ligmincha and Serenity Ridge, the Ligmincha Board decided to sell the property.

One addition here at Serenity Ridge that I know many of you appreciate is that this year we transmitting Tenzin Rinpoche's teachings by live webcast directly from our gompa. The next live webcast is scheduled for Dec. 30 from 3–4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (New York time).

Headed by Marcy Vaughn, Ligmincha's Director of Study and Practice, and supported by Lourdes Hinojosa and Wojtech Plucinski, a team is working on ways to support practitioners. We will hear more from them in the coming months.

Administrative Changes

Changes this year in the Ligmincha Council have seen Polly Turner and Norman Dill stepping down from their positions as Ligmincha's Communications Director and Ligmincha's Director of Budget and Finance, respectively. We greatly appreciate their years of support. We warmly welcomed Mary Jo Herriman to join Joyce Asmussen as the Co-Director of Retreat Coordination. And most recently, we welcomed Rob Patzig as the new Director of Budget and Finance, and Dowdell and Kat Brown as Strategic Planning Consultants. Thanks to all of our Council members for their hard work and dedication. In addition, Karen Patrick has stepped down as the Volunteer Coordinator, an ongoing formal role although not a Council position. We thank her for being the first to help us in this way.

On our Board of Directors, Anne Klein has stepped down from her position. Anne was instrumental in bringing Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche to the West. We thank her for her many years of support from the very start of Ligmincha Institute. We also thank Gabriel Rocco, chairman of the Board, for his support, and Yongdzin Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche for his continued support and guidance.

We've also had a number of changes in office staff. Earlier this year, we had a changeover in the Manager of our Bookstore & Tibet Shop. We thank Melissa O'Neill for her work and welcomed Bo Holland into this position in March. In May, Susan Wenzel was hired as my assistant. In July, Paige Hartsell, our Retreat Registration Coordinator, moved to New Jersey. We wish her well in her new life there. In August, Carrie Chandler began as an intern in the position of Retreat Registration Coordinator and Program Support. She is now living onsite, supporting retreat participants before and during retreats. Our longtime caretakers, Lee Hartline and Raven Cypress Wood, departed Serenity Ridge in September to live nearby. We are currently finalizing plans to fill the newly opened Maintenance Technician position at Serenity Ridge.

We've had a number of notable volunteer efforts this year, including Lutz Dausend's work on the international website; Zeyno Dodd's new retreat registration database for our office; Dave Liden's continued assistance with our current website and work to install a registration module for Serenity Ridge retreats into our new website; and the continued work of Aline and Jeff Fisher for Voice of Clear Light, now aided by Vickie Walter for editing and Mark Hammons for online publication. Also a big thank-you for the many other volunteers who have assisted during the year in a variety of ways, including at retreats.

And finally, we wish to thank those who have made financial donations this year. These generous contributions of time and finances greatly support the efforts of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Ligmincha Institute and our Serenity Ridge Retreat Center. As an end-of-the year reminder, Ligmincha Institute is a 501(C)3 nonprofit organization. If you wish to make a financial donation, all donations are tax deductible as allowed by law.
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New Website for the New Year

Many of you have perhaps heard whispers that we will soon have a new website for Ligmincha International and Ligmincha's Bookstore & Tibet Shop. We are grateful for sangha members Lutz and Bogusia Dausend, Dave Liden, Polly Turner, Bo Holland, Zeyno Dodd and Oliver Wirtz, who are working to create this new website. The main idea is that with a sangha now spread throughout the world, it is important to unify all of the websites so that we have one place where sangha can find up-to-date information about Ligmincha, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and Rinpoche's international teaching schedule, along with easy access to his free international webcasts and online videos. Learn more about the new website in the article below.

We have exciting plans for the year ahead for more retreats and other events. If you have any questions, or wish to know more details, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

I wish you all the very best as this year comes to a close,

Sue Davis-Dill
Executive Director, Ligmincha Institute