Letter from the Editors

Celebrations Ahead!

Dear Friends,

Happy 2017!

With the beginning of the new year, we want to renew and reenergize our practice, and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is giving us many new opportunities to do this: retreats all around the world, free webcasts, TWR LIVE talks on Facebook, online workshops and, of course, Rinpoche's nine books, now available in many languages. We have many reasons to be grateful and to celebrate.

This year, 2017, we are celebrating Ligmincha International's 25th anniversary! Find out about plans for celebration in a letter from Ligmincha International President Rob Patzig. And it is almost time to celebrate Losar, the Tibetan New Year, beginning on February 27 – a time to clean and prepare for the new year, a time for practice and offerings, a time to be grateful for one's tradition, a time for prayers and a time for feasts. Mark your calendar for a live Losar broadcast on Saturday, March 4, at 10:30 a.m. New York time. Rinpoche and our resident lamas will be offering prayers and good wishes for the Year of the Fire Bird. Tashi Delek Losar!

This year we will see big changes at Serenity Ridge Retreat Center, home of Ligmincha International in Virginia. View photos and read an update about the construction now under way for the new building at Serenity Ridge, which will meet the needs of the Ligmincha community worldwide. And find out how your contribution of any amount can make a difference.

More exciting news to share from Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche for the New Year! Visit Rinpoche's Facebook page to see TWR LIVE. These new live broadcasts on a range of topics will connect with you to Rinpoche on a regular basis. In a recent Facebook Live broadcast, Rinpoche gave us all some advice for the start of the new year: "Reflect on your life as the new year begins. And do not get trapped in those old patterns of so many old stories that don't serve anything anymore, not at this moment in your life nor in the future."

One opportunity for growth and exploration available to us every day is during our sleep – the topic of the teaching excerpt in this issue. Rinpoche describes sleep as a sacred dimension, one in which we can leave behind our ego and pain and instead grow, be aware and come to experience the clear light of sleep, our true nature. We hope you enjoy the excerpt. Don't miss the simple exercise that Rinpoche describes at the conclusion.

Mark your calendar for the next free live webcast with Tenzin Rinpoche on February 11, the last in the series on "Living in Joy, Dying in Peace." There are simultaneous translations of the webcast in up to 12 languages, as well. The next GlideWing online course with Tenzin Rinpoche, on meditation as medicine for body and mind, begins February 25. A six-week Ligmincha Learning online course on the five elements starts March 3.

Join Rinpoche for the annual Spring Retreat at Serenity Ridge March 31–April 2 on "Meditation on the Six Lokas: Purifying the Obstacles to Enlightenment." Spring is also a great time to be at Serenity Ridge Retreat Center – why not plan to come early or stay longer offering your help during the Spring Service Retreat? Just around the corner is the annual two-week Summer Retreat from June 25–July 8. During each week Rinpoche will offer both dzogchen teachings of the Bön lineage masters and teachings from the Bön Mother Tantra.

You can always find Tenzin Rinpoche's teaching schedule by date and by location on the Ligmincha International website. Last but not least, you'll find the links to the Spanish and Portuguese translations of the December issue of Voice of Clear Light.

Best wishes in Bön,

Aline and Jeff