Teaching Issue
Volume 17, Number 5 / October 2017
Letter from the Editors
Honoring His Holiness the 33rd Menri Trizin
Dear Friends,
It is with heavy hearts that we write this letter to you following the death of His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche, the 33rd Menri Trizin. Spiritual leader of the Bön tradition, an extraordinary dzogchen master and a truly genuine lama of the highest order, he radiated a majesty and splendor everywhere he went. We send our deepest condolences to Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and H.E. Yongdzin Rinpoche, and to each of the many, many Bön lamas, geshes, monks and students of Bön from all around the world. Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude, too, for all that His Holiness has selflessly and without hesitation shown and taught through his innumerable enlightened activities of body, speech and mind. There is no way imaginable to repay his great kindness. We pray fervently for his emanation to appear, and we pray that his light will shine forever, out to the very reaches of the cosmos.
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and Tsering Wangmo traveled to Menri Monastery in Dolanji, India to see His Holiness before he died. You can read his beautiful letter written to his students following the passing of His Holiness. You can also find an article with details regarding His Holiness' death, the cremation plans, as well as advice on how we can honor His Holiness, including the prayers that are recommended for this time, as well as links to letters from Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and Ligmincha International, and a short video clip of His Holiness in meditation during his last visit to Serenity Ridge in 2013. Enjoy some photos, as well.
We also have some treasures from Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's teachings from last summer's retreat at Serenity Ridge. It is amazing how powerful so few words can be.
Have you tuned into the latest TWR LIVE Facebook series that Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is giving on Pith Instructions – Personal Reflections on the Heart Essence of Dzogchen? Through November 22, 2017, Rinpoche is giving this free series of weekly broadcasts live from his Facebook page. Find out all the details below and on Ligmincha Learning's website, and look for any updates or changes on Rinpoche's Facebook page.
The next Ligmincha Learning online workshop on "The Five Elements" begins October 13. A brand-new GlideWing online workshop on "The Truth That Sets You Free: Practices of Waking and Sleeping“ begins September 30, and another GlideWing online workshop on "Tibetan Dream Yoga“ begins November 18. See below for details.
We are looking forward to Ligmincha's 25th Anniversary commemoration on Sunday, October 22, which will follow the annual Fall Retreat at Serenity Ridge. Don't forget that you can participate in Cyber-Sangha Week as part of the 25th Anniversary commemoration. There will be two trul khor (Tibetan yoga) retreats at Serenity Ridge in November, one is for beginners and one for advanced students. As always, you can find Rinpoche’s upcoming teaching schedule on the Ligmincha International website.
Finally, below you can find the link to the latest Ligmincha Europe Magazine, as well as the link for the Spanish translation of the August issue of the Voice of Clear Light.
In service in Bön,
Aline and Jeff
The Passing of His Holiness the 33rd Menri Trizin
Gatherings, Online Prayer Event to Honor His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche
The Bön community throughout the world is saddened by the death on September 14, 2017, of His Holiness the 33rd Menri Trizin, Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche. His Holiness was the worldwide spiritual leader of the Bön tradition and abbot of Menri Monastery in Dolanji, India.
Bönpos throughout the world are being asked to offer candles, incense and prayers for His Holiness. Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, founder and spiritual director of Ligmincha International, asks that we practice in groups, where possible, at the time of the cremation ceremony or close to it. The cremation is scheduled to begin at 5:30 a.m. on Monday, October 2, India time. This equates to Sunday, October 1, at 8 p.m. New York time. You can look up the time for your time zone on this time conversion website. Rinpoche recommends reciting the four-line prayer to His Holiness, the Prayer of Nyamé Sherap Gyaltsen and the Ma Tri mantra. (See below.)
A special one-hour online prayer session with Geshe Denma Gyaltsen and Marcy Vaughn will be broadcast live on Ligmincha International's Facebook page at 8 p.m. New York time on Sunday, October 1, for those unable to practice in person with local groups.
Learn more
Rinpoche was able to visit with His Holiness on the day of his passing and shared his experience in a letter. Ligmincha International also sent a letter to Menri Monastery paying tribute to His Holiness's life.
Read letter from Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Read letter from Ligmincha to Menri Monastery
A living embodiment of wisdom and compassion, His Holiness is considered to be an emanation of Nyamé Sherab Gyaltsen, who in 1405 founded the original Menri Monastery in Tsang Province in central Tibet. Born in Tibet in the eastern province of Amdo in 1929, His Holiness left Tibet for Nepal in 1959. He worked to preserve Bön texts, taught in England and Norway and, at the request of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, founded a school for Tibetan refugee boys in Northern India. He was selected to be the 33rd Menri Trizin—the abbot of Menri Monastery in Dolanji and spiritual leader of Bön—in 1968. Throughout his life, he worked tirelessly to support practitioners and ensure that the teachings of Bön would continue.
View short video of His Holiness in meditation at Serenity Ridge, summer 2013
Read the biography of His Holiness from the Bon Foundation
Read an obituary from the Central Tibetan Administration
Prayers for His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche
We are asked to light candles and incense and to recite prayers to honor His Holiness and the immeasurable love and wisdom that he showed us during his lifetime. Three prayers are below.
The Great Mantra
Prayer to His Holiness
Prayer of Nyamé Sherap Gyaltsen
Treasures from Summer Retreat 2017
Edited Excerpts from Oral Teachings Given by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Opening to Infinite Possibilities
How many things in your life do you feel, when looking back on them, that you really did something, you did something good, and that you were capable of doing it, and doing it well? Looking at your life: how many things?
Why did you accomplish those things? Because you saw the possibility of doing them, that's all, that's the only difference. The only difference is that you saw that you could do it, and you did it.
Looking at what so many people are able to do, so many things that you admire that are done by artists, musicians, poets, whoever. Why do they do them? Because they just believe in themselves that they can do it, and they do it. In that regard, there are no differences between them. But you have some sense that a fresh kind of seeing is necessary; discovery seems like it's necessary. Of course, there are causes and conditions, limitations. They are there, and if there are limitations, then they will just be there, and it's okay—as is the case in our lives. However, for most of us, we've not even come close yet to what we can possibly manifest. Nowhere close at all.
We talk about the meeting, encountering the teacher, like meeting Tapihritsa, or meeting the dakini, the dream goddess. Have you ever thought of giving even just a slight invitation to the dream goddess, "Show up in my dream, I want to meet you tonight." Have you said that? Those of you who have said that have a good chance of having her appear. But those of you who have not said that have less of a chance of her appearing. Or, it could be for anybody's appearing in your dream, beyond all time and space – not only teachers of the past but invite and meet the future teacher. Meet the enlighted buddha of the future. They're already there. They're not on duty yet. They're just waiting for the call: 911, and they just instantly show up.
What I'm saying here is that the mind is key. How often do we ever think of these greater possibilities? Infinite possibility, infinite creativity. New things, different things, deeper things, subtler things than most of the thoughts that we typically engage with every day amidst a routine of just get up in the morning, go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, go to work, see the same boss, do the same things, get exhausted, go to sleep, have a dream or not dream, have a nightmare, get up, go to work tomorrow morning. Is that all that life is about, repeating that same thing again and again, deja vu? Yes, you can say it is difficult to see freshly new things and subtler things. However, in dream, when you have a lucid dream, there is this wonderful possibility, right? Do you hear me? Infinite possibility.
*****
Boundless Mind is Immeasurable
The essence, the nature, the mind, can never be measured.
I can say [holding up pair of eyeglasses and other objects], "These are glasses. This is a bell. This is a cup." So you can look at these things, and you can name them. You are labeling them. You are measuring them. That's okay. But measuring Self is not okay. That's different. Object – it's okay to measure, maybe there's a need to measure it. But subject, the mind, cannot be measured. If you are trying to measure it, that becomes a problem. That's why some say, "Don't conceptualize."
The idea of not conceptualizing, we understand that, right? But usually we say, if you don't conceptualize, nothing's going to happen. Take for example the new structure being built here at Serenity Ridge. Externally, we can conceptualize. I think that's okay, as long as it's done more with a sense of playfulness and flexibility – not just because of the added fun of being playful, but because it's that very playfulness that gives more opportunity, more possibility, more freedom, more flow, more space to breathe, more places to connect with each other, more space to have compassion for someone. That's what playfulness gives, right? And in a way it serves a function also.
But conceptualizing of self, of subject, is a problem. Let's say I'm saying a mantra [Rinpoche sings Aaahhh]. The energy of the sound, the power of the mantra, it all is helping me to enter into that beautiful, sacred space. That space is there, that base, path, fruition is there. There's so much that is beautiful there in that moment. But suddenly if I think, "This is it. This is the nature of mind! That looks like awareness. That looks like the light. That looks like, what was it – oh yeah – fruition" – the moment you conceptualize the essence itself, it’s guaranteed you don't know it. The moment you think you know, you don't know. You just lost it, the very moment that you conceptualized.
That is the most important definition of immeasureable. You don't try to measure it. It's already measured: its measurement is boundlessness. That's called view. So when you are trying to measure it, boundless immediately becomes bounded. When it becomes bounded, your experiences become limited. When your experiences are limited, you don't have understanding of the base. If you don't have an understanding of the base, you don't have understanding of the path. And if you don't have the path, you cannot possibly expect to see the result. Just forget about everything.
*****
Developing One's View Liberates
If you look at any situation in your life, any experiences that you are having in your life, any challenges you are facing in your life, even difficult challenges you're facing in your life, you can see that there is nothing inherently wrong with any of those situations in themselves.
Of course, hearing that you will say, "No no, it's a little bit too much to say or think in that way." So you may say, "What about half of them? Half of them I can work with. And yes, for sure, I can see that for another 30 percent of them, there's not really a problem out there – it's in me! But the other 10 to 20 percent are absolutely not my doing. It's that other person that really is the problem, or it's that particular situation that really is the problem."
You truly believe that there are things, situations, events that have nothing to do with you. That means you won't have the opportunity to self-realize through them, because they seemingly have nothing to do with you. You think that each of those challenges or stuations exists outside of you, separate from you; that each is a problem inherently existing with someone out there, and that it has nothing to do with you.
That's how you see it, and the moment you see it in that way, then it actually is a problem. That way of seeing it, as completely separate from you, is more of a problem, because you have less of a chance of self-realizing through it. You might already be witnessing that effect, living with some problem, say for the last 20 years, for exactly that reason. And because you have been seeing it in that way, that is why you are stuck with that problem.There are many other problems that you have managed to transcend – you have managed to be free from them. Then there are a few which you have not, because of that exact reason: you think it has nothing to do with you; they are a problem – my sister is the problem, my brother is the problem, my boss is the problem.
In this teaching, it's saying that everything is okay when you realize. Realization liberates. Realization does not transform. No transformation is necessary. Things are good as they are.
I know in my own experience there are many, many instances when, for example, I would have some experiences in the morning, some challenges, and in the afternoon, I would feel a little bit not good about it, "Why do I have to have a problem with that, since everything is Samantabhadra – All Good." So, of course, I'm not happy, because I did not experience it like that. But I know I can experience like that, so I give myself space to process and reflect better and with a deep sense of trust – it is Samantabhadra. Then I look and ask, "What's the good in that bad thing?" Then I realize that there are more good things in that bad thing than were there this morning. That ability to see things better can continue until it becomes perfect. That’s called "great perfection." It was perfect as it was.
*****
Resting in the Sacred Space That Hosts Everything
When the dzogchen teachings talk about this sense of being, this sense of resting, sometimes we may think or feel that this sense of being or resting is a way of avoiding disturbances, or negative emotions, or conceptual thoughts, or experiences or appearences. One might at times see this sense of being in that way, or feel it in that way or maybe even practice it in that way.
It's not really exactly saying that. It's not really saying that if you are depressed, or if you are sad, to try to get away from that. It's not saying that being sad is wrong, as if you're really being interfered with by the sadness itself, or for that matter any attributes, concepts, thoughts or emotions like fear and depression. The teachings are not saying that any of these are bad in themselves. It all has to do with your relation to each of them as they arise. Is it actually interfering, or is it okay? Are you managing to be with it? Can you utilize it? Can it become a door? A path on your journey? A door to your destination? A key to that wisdom? That's the question, right – what it is for you.
In wishing or trying to be a dzogchen practitioner, it's important to have the understanding that negative emotions are not bad. Understand that seeing them as mistaken is itself an error. Or another way to say it: seeing any one of them as an error, itself, is mistaken. So sometimes you might think, as a great realization, "Oh, anger is really bad, I have realized that the emotion anger is really bad." That is actually not a realization; it’s just another layer of duality. Rather, the realization is in the ability to be with the anger – it's almost like being one with the anger, or like the anger being one with that sacred space, allowing it to be in that sacred space, accomodating, hosting. As a dzogchen practioner, it's about developing ways to work with that. Is that clear?
Reminder: Cyber-Sangha Week Is October 22–28
Seven Days of Online Commemoration Honoring Ligmincha’s 25th Anniversary
Rinpoche teaches online from SwitzerlandThis October a commemoration will take place at Serenity Ridge Retreat Center, headquarters of Ligmincha International, in central Virginia as Ligmincha honors the 25 years since its founding by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. If you can’t be at Serenity Ridge on October 22, you can still participate in the opening festivities from your computer or other devices – part of a full week of special online observances – by visiting the Ligmincha International Facebook page. You don’t need a Facebook account to participate!
This weeklong event, October 22–28, 2017, is known as Cyber-Sangha Week. It is Ligmincha’s way of commemorating its teachers, teachings and traditions, as well as its many worldwide centers and spiritual communities (sanghas). By clicking and viewing, you’ll discover how you can benefit from a wide variety of online and in-person offerings.
It all happens on the Facebook page of Ligmincha International.
- If you’re a Facebook member, be sure to “like” the page so you can be notified of posts as they arrive.
- For updates about Cyber-Sangha Week and its schedule, click here.
- A note to Ligmincha sanghas that haven’t already sent their suggestions for participating in Cyber-Sangha Week: To learn how you can contribute, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Commemorating Ligmincha’s 25 Years at Serenity Ridge
Attend Activities on October 22
Everyone is warmly invited to attend a special commemoration October 22 at Serenity Ridge Retreat Center in Virginia in honor of Ligmincha’s 25th anniversary. There is no charge to attend. We extend a special invitation to international visitors to consider attending Fall Retreat, which runs from October 18–21, and also our Science and Spirituality Conference on October 23–24.
Morning activities on October 22 for sangha members include a sang chod ceremony and raising of prayer flags at 8 a.m., tea at 9 a.m., and sangha celebration in the gompa beginning at 10 a.m.
Afternoon activities will be open to the entire Tibetan community and area residents. From 12 noon until 4 p.m., all can enjoy a public event that includes Tibetan food vendors, music, viewing of the new building, and more. Ligmincha's Bookstore and Tibet Shop will be open, and a new book commemorating the 25th anniversary of Ligmincha will be available. It includes photographs submitted by sangha members from around the world.
At this point, plans are being made to provide shuttle service to and from Serenity Ridge during the afternoon, and parking along Rickfish River Road (Route 617). Cars will not be allowed to enter or leave the Serenity Ridge grounds from 7:30 a.m. onward because the entry road will be blocked. For updates on parking, check the Serenity Ridge website and Facebook page closer to the date.
TWR LIVE Series Continues Through November 27
Personal Reflections on the Heart Essence of Dzogchen
In this TWR LIVE Facebook series on "Pith Instructions, Personal Reflections on the Heart Essence of Dzogchen" Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche broadcasts weekly live from his Facebook page.
Visit the Ligmincha Learning website for schedule updates. Because of uncertain Internet access during Rinpoche's extensive travels in the coming weeks, his broadcast schedule must remain flexible. If you have missed any of the previous talks you can view them in Ligmincha Learning's video archives. Just scroll down to Special Topics and look for Pith Instructions.
In this series of TWR LIVE teachings, Rinpoche draws from the dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Bön Buddhism as well as from his own years of personal reflection. The dzogchen, or "great perfection," teachings are considered the path of self-liberation and the highest form of teaching and practice in the Bön Buddhist tradition. Their practices transport the practitioner directly into the nature of mind, which is our true essence.
Most Wednesdays at 1 p.m. New York time, Rinpoche will offer a new pith instruction live on Facebook. Rinpoche will present each teaching in a way that is as simple and accessible as possible.
Between scheduled sessions, Rinpoche will offer occasional unscheduled live broadcasts, including conversations with invited guests on related topics with invited teachers of the Bön or other traditions. All broadcasts are free and open to all—you don’t need a Facebook account to view them. To access the viewing screen, visit Rinpoche’s Facebook page at the time of the broadcast.
TWR LIVE schedule updates
Archive of TWR LIVE recordings
Learn more/ access real-time translations
Ligmincha Learning Online Course Starts October 13
'The Five Elements: Healing with Form Energy and Light'
Ligmincha Learning will offer an online course on “The Five Elements: Healing with Form, Energy and Light“ starting October 13, 2017. The six-week course with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will continue through November 26.
In this course Rinpoche explains how each of the five elements relates to our daily experiences, emotions and relationships. He guides meditations for each of the elements, designed to help clear our obstacles and bring balance to our lives.
Each section of the course includes videos of Rinpoche’s teachings and a guided meditation; readings from Healing with Form, Energy and Light, and assignments for journal writing, discussion, and formal and informal practice. The course is designed so that you may integrate study and practice into your everyday routine, learning at your own pace, while enjoying the support of classmates and the course mentor.
Learn more and register
Ongoing free Ligmincha Learning online course available: Starting a Meditation Practice
Two Upcoming GlideWing Courses
'The Truth That Sets You Free' and 'Tibetan Dream Yoga'
GlideWing is offering two upcoming online workshops with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. "The Truth That Sets You Free: Discovering Your Inner Wisdom Through Practices of Waking and Sleeping" is a brand-new course set for September 30–October 22, 2017. It is followed by "Tibetan Dream Yoga" from November 18–December 17, 2017.
In the first three-week workshop, with Rinpoche’s personal guidance you will learn contemplative meditation practices of the day and sleep yoga practices of the night – powerful methods of liberating yourself from fear and other disturbing emotions – so you may live more fully and genuinely in all aspects of life. Ultimately, these practices are about achieving liberation, or enlightenment.
Learn more and register
The four-week dream yoga workshop will help participants cultivate greater awareness during every moment of life. We spend a third of our life sleeping, each night moving from one dimension of experience to another, losing our sense of self and finding it again, and yet we take it all for granted. We wake up in the morning and continue in "real" life, but in a sense we are still asleep and dreaming. The teachings tell us that we can wake up to the truth and live both waking and dreaming life with greater ease, comfort, clarity and appreciation.
Learn more and register
Both workshops are intended to be experiential rather than purely philosophical or conceptual in nature, with each teaching session providing guidance and exercises for formal and informal meditation practice.
Trul Khor Tibetan Yoga Retreats in November
Part One Open to All and Postgraduate Training
Alejandro Teaching trul khor at Serenity RidgeTwo Tibetan Bön Yoga retreats – a beginning-level retreat from the A-Tri Dzogchen tradition and a training for graduates of previous Tibetan yoga series – will be held concurrently at Serenity Ridge in November.
Beginners and experienced students alike are invited to join us November 2–5 for instruction in the ancient practice of Tibetan yoga from the Bön A-tri Dzogchen tradition, taught by Alejandro Chaoul-Reich. This course can stand alone and also will serve as the first in a series of trainings to take place over the next three years. All trainings will be held at Serenity Ridge. In the past this training series began with the Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyü trul khor. Now, we will start with the A-tri Dzogchen trul khor, as condensed by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. All are welcome to attend.
Graduates who have done Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Tibetan Bön yoga from Ligmincha since 2002 can join Tibetan Bön Yoga, Postgraduate, Part 5, on November 3–5. In this retreat, participants will explore the body’s energetic dimensions and integrate the practice with everyday life. They will deepen their trul khor practice and also see how it connects with tummo (inner fire, heat, wisdom). Teaching with Alejandro will be Geshe Tenzin Yangton, Serenity Ridge resident lama, who has trained deeply in these practices in India and Nepal.
Tibetan yoga can serve as a powerful support for all spiritual practitioners, not only those with an interest in physical yogas. In the Tibetan spiritual traditions, body, speech/breath and mind are known as the three doors to enlightenment.The contemplative physical movements of Tibetan yoga (trul khor) enable us to enter all three doors at once through a single practice, offering a powerful, skillful means for clearing the obstacles and obscurations to openness and clarity in meditation practice.
Learn more about Tibetan Bön Yoga, Part 1
Learn more about Tibetan Bön Yoga, Postgraduate, Part 5
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's 2017 Teaching Schedule
Upcoming Retreats for October Through December
Here is a list of Rinpoche‘s retreats in October through December:
- October 18–21: Serenity Ridge, Shipman, Virginia: Annual Fall Retreat: The Knowledge and Wisdom of Longevity
- October 22: Serenity Ridge, Shipman, Virginia: Day of Commemoration: Ligmincha's 25th Anniversary (free event)
- October 23–24: Serenity Ridge, Shipman, Virginia: Science and Spirituality Conference: The Medicineof Mind: Healing Physical and Emotional Pain
- October 27: Mexico City: Healing the Pain Body
- October 28–29: Mexico City: Dream Yoga
- November 3–5: Berkeley, California: The Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen
- December 27, 2017–January 1, 2018: Serenity Ridge, Shipman, Virginia: Annual Winter Retreat: The Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung, Part 4
You can always find Rinpoche's teaching schedule by date and by location on the Ligmincha International website.
View schedule by date
View schedule by location
Ligmincha Europe Magazine Summer Issue #25
Sangha News in Europe and Worldwide
Read the 25th issue of Ligmincha Europe Magazine.
Spanish Translation of VOCL
Link to August Issue Now Available
Look for the translations of Voice of Clear Light newsletters at the top of the Voice of Clear Light website.
We hope to have the translation of VOCL in Portuguese at a later date.
Upcoming Retreats
Serenity Ridge Retreat Center
The retreats listed below will take place at Serenity Ridge Retreat Center, Ligmincha International headquarters located in rural Nelson County, Virginia. To register or for more information, click on the links below, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 434-263-6304.
October 18–21, 2017
Fall Retreat: The Knowledge and Wisdoom of Longevity: Teachings and Empowerment from the Tsewang Jarima
with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Learn more/register
October 22, 2017
Special Commemoration: Ligmincha’s 25th Anniversary
Join us for a day of events, including music, food, viewing of the new building, and more.
Learn more
October 23–24, 2017
Science and Spirituality Conference
with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and expert presenters
Learn more/register
November 2–5, 2017
Trul Khor – Tibetan Bön Yoga: Part 1
with Alejandro Chaoul-Reich
Learn more/register
November 3–5, 2017
Trul Khor – Tibetan Bön Yoga, Postgraduate: Part 5
with Alejandro Chaoul-Reich and Honored Guest Geshe Tenzin Yangton
Learn more/register
December 27, 2017–January 1, 2018
Winter Retreat: The Experiential Transmission of the Zhang Zhung, Part 4
with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Prerequisite: Previous completion of Parts 1, 2 and 3 of the Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung series.
Learn more/register
To register for any of the above retreats, or for more information about teachings in the Bön Buddhist tradition of Tibet, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , call 434-263-6304 or visit the Serenity Ridge website.
