Voice of Clear Light

Volume 14, Number 4 / August 2014

Letter from Ligmincha’s Executive Director

An Abundance of Change: Welcoming Our Resident Lama to Serenity Ridge, New Ligmincha International Board Plus Staff Changes

Dear Sangha and Friends,

I hope that you are enjoying a wonderful summer. Here at Serenity Ridge we’ve had a cooler summer than usual, with lovely breezy days. Unexpected for summer in Virginia!

We recently completed a memorable three-week summer retreat with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. Having begun teaching on the esteemed dzogchen text, The Twenty-One Nails, last summer, he completed the remaining chapters over the course of this retreat. We are grateful to the work of Salvador Espinosa and Rogelio Flores for their work during the retreat to videotape and archive Rinpoche’s teachings. With Rinpoche’s great wish for there to be no barrier to receiving teachings for those unable to travel to attend retreats, you will now find approximately 50 video clips from Rinpoche’s teachings on the Twenty-One Nails on Ligmincha’s YouTube channel.

We were blessed to have joining us Geshe Tenzin Yangton, our new resident lama for Serenity Ridge; Lama Kalsang Nyima and Lama Yungdrung Lodoe, resident lamas for Ligmincha Mexico; and Geshe Dangsong, who received his geshe degree from Triten Norbutse Monastery and is the resident teacher for Ananda Dharma Center in San Jose, California. (See the article about Geshe Tenzin Yangton In this issue.)

We are currently planning Geshe Yangton’s teaching schedule at Serenity Ridge. Included will be a ngondro practice retreat immediately following our Winter Retreat with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche on the Experiential Transmission, Part 1: The Ngondro. We’ll post more detailed information soon.

Organizationally, we have had some exciting changes, which you will read about in the letter from Rob Patzig, Ligmincha International’s Board Chair. The first Ligmincha International Board meeting was held this summer during the first week of our summer retreat. We are thankful that so many were able to travel so far to be here in person. Joining Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche for the meeting were Anneke Dekkers from the Netherlands, Carlos Madero from Mexico, Rob Patzig from the U.S., Justyna Przondo from Poland, Gabriel Rocco from the U.S. and Pam Rodeheaver from the U.S. Board members joining by skype were Nathalie Duchanois from Switzerland and Oliver Wirtz from Germany.

As often seems to happen, wonderful times are often mixed with times of change. Here at the Serenity Ridge office I’d like to note some significant changes. Susan Wenzel, who has been assisting in the office with a large variety of responsibilities, including assembling the detailed documentation which ultimately resulted in Geshe Yangton being approved to be our resident lama, is now going to shift her time to helping us as special projects arise. With great appreciation for her consistency and dependability over these last three years, thank you Susan! Carrie Chandler, whom many of you have come to know over the last couple of years when you’ve called to ask questions about registering for retreats, has now found other full-time work in her new home in California. We won’t say goodbye, as we know that Carrie will return to Serenity Ridge to participate in retreats. I would like to introduce our new registrar, Maria Puente-Duany. Maria has been a student of Tenzin Rinpoche’s for several years and has recently moved to this area. Now she will be the person responding to emails sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We also warmly welcome Rich Kennedy, who has been volunteering at Serenity Ridge to assist us with our many maintenance needs.

Our interim operations manager, Sonya Salanti, will be departing from her position at the end of August. We appreciate so much her dedicated work to support and improve our Serenity Ridge Retreat Center, from setting up procedures, supporting our retreats and rentals, and creating end-of-year fundraising to improve our facility, to overseeing the beautiful room upgrades to the oldest section of the Garuda House. We are now interviewing for an experienced operations manager, so do see our job posting if you are interested. We also thank Josiah Chamberlain for his work these past few months with our facility and maintenance needs, among them overseeing an involved project to test our well water to ensure that it meets the standards set by the Office of Drinking Water for Virginia’s Department of Health. (Our well passed all tests and we will soon receive a waterworks operation permit, a requirement as the number of days our retreat center is in use has increased.) And finally, I would like to introduce another new member of our office staff, Melissa Lamb, who has joined us to assist with our bookkeeping. Do stop into the office the next time you come to Serenity Ridge to meet our staff!

I wish you all joyful remaining days of summer,

Sue
Sue Davis-Dill
Executive Director, Ligmincha Institute