Volume 20, Number 3 / June 2020
Letter from the Editors
Union of Ancient and Modern
Dear Friends,
We have big news for you! For the first time ever, all are invited to participate in this year's online two-week Summer Retreat with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. He will focus on a 12th century heart-essence teaching, “The Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen,” from June 20–July 3. You can attend Week 1, Week 2 or both weeks, and flexible pricing is being offered as well. It is such a gift to have this opportunity now during the time of the pandemic, and we thank Rinpoche for his compassionate generosity to offer these teachings during his sabbatical. See all the details below – and we hope that you are able to attend!
In addition, a special online fundraising auction will be held June 23–July 7. There are lots of amazing items to inspire your generous donations at a time when Serenity Ridge Retreat Center is also in much need of support.
This issue's teaching excerpt is from Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's book Spontaneous Creativity: Meditations for Manifesting Your Positive Qualities. As the book cover describes so well, this work looks at creativity “through a wider lens, as a dynamic force that animates us all and connects us with every being on the planet.” How especially valuable during these changing and challenging times of the global pandemic to read Rinpoche's words of advice to trust in our connection to the inner refuge, our inner space of being, our true liberation.
Although Rinpoche is on sabbatical this year, he continues to be inspired to do Facebook Live webcasts. Recently, he broadcast from outside in nature connecting everyone with a beautiful view of the mountains and sky where he also led a practice. Sharing his heartfelt feelings about what a great gift it is for him to be able to connect to the cyber sangha through online teachings, Facebook Live webcasts and Zoom, Rinpoche reminded us all of the importance of connection during this rare time of the COVID-19 virus:
This is a very important moment for all of us, to learn, to wake up, to feel strong, feel confident, feel joyful, feel a lot of light, and to be able to feel connection and share the best of ourselves with others during this time. Because you need it and others need it. That is why I am doing this.
You can watch this webcast and many more by going to the archives on cybersangha.net. And be sure to look for the upcoming webcasts, some of which are often spontaneously scheduled!
Here are more announcements from Ligmincha International:
- His Holiness Lungtok Dawa Dhargyal Rinpoche, the 34th Menri Trizin and spiritual leader of the Tibetan Bön tradition, recently gave his first worldwide online talk offering his thoughts and advice concerning the global COVID-19 pandemic. Subtitles available in many languages.
- In case you didn't read about Rinpoche's sabbatical plans being moved to this year, you can find the details below. Rinpoche's worldwide teaching schedule through the end of the year is available on the Ligmincha website.
- Rinpoche continues to give many webcasts in June – see the details below and on the CyberSangha website. You are welcome to join us for the next 24-hour Sherap Chamma practice on June 5 beginning at 10 a.m, New York time on Zoom.
- Consider a donation to Ligmincha to help support the new ways Ligmincha is working to meet the sangha's needs during these challenging times. Ligmincha President Rob Patzig's letter explains why it is so needed.
- Ligmincha Learning has two upcoming online courses. “The Three Heart Mantras of Bön” begins July 6 and “Transforming Our Emotions Through the Six Lokas” begins August 14. You can join the ongoing “Ngondro, Foundational Practices” course at any time.
- GlideWing's upcoming online workshop on “Tibetan Dream Yoga” begins June 27 and is Rinpoche's last one to be offered through GlideWing this year while he is on sabbatical. Also GlideWing is offering a free, ongoing, self-guided workshop on “Focusing and Calming Your Mind.”
- Don't miss Ligmincha Europe Magazine's final issue! But you haven't heard the last from editor Ton Bisscheroux . . .
- This month's Sangha Sharing features an offering by Jacob Kelly of Colorado.
- The 3 Doors is offering opportunities to gather and practice together online. Join senior teacher Marcy Vaughn June 10 for a new guided session, or listen to other free prerecorded sessions that are available. Details below.
- Student and Teacher – Together on the Path is a regular feature of VOCL. Rinpoche answers a question about choosing what practice to do and when.
- View the translation of the April VOCL in Spanish.
In Bön,
Aline and Jeff Fisher
Special Summer Two-Week Online Retreat
'The Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen' with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Join us online for a special Summer Retreat with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche starting June 20. "The Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen" is a powerful heart-essence teaching from the Tibetan Bön Buddhist tradition. It offers a direct introduction to the clear, open awareness of our true nature as well as methods for maintaining the recognition of who we truly are.
Everyone from around the world is invited to participate in this special two-week online summer retreat, beginning June 20 and ending July 3, 2020. You may attend Week 1, Week 2 or both weeks. Flexible pricing with four levels of choice is available so that as many people as possible can attend, and further financial aid will be available upon request.
Week 1: June 20–26 (begins June 20 at 10 a.m. and ends June 26 at 1 p.m., Eastern – New York time)
Week 2: June 27–July 3 (begins June 27 with 8 a.m. practice and ends July 3 at 1 p.m., Eastern – New York time)
The seven mirrors are:
The heart mirror of the view
The heart mirror of the meditation
The heart mirror of the result
The heart mirror of conduct
The heart mirror that explains the pure realms and lands of samsara
The heart mirror of sixfold consummation
The heart mirror that explains the benefit of meeting with this teaching
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will lead us through the essence of the Seven Mirrors, beginning with the view of dzogchen, known as “the great perfection.” There are no prerequisites for attending these teachings.
Online Auction, Sacred Dance and More
This retreat is sponsored by Serenity Ridge Retreat Center, headquarters of Ligmincha International, and supported by Ligmincha. With the closure of Serenity Ridge to visitors and retreatants since March, we have found much support in our rapidly growing online community. The virtual spring retreat saw about 900 registrations, and we expect a large number of participants for this special summer retreat.
This summer we hope to present as much of the retreat experience as we can. This includes a special online fundraising auction June 23–July 7. (See the article below.) Also as part of the online retreat experience we will have a performance of sacred dance and music the second week of the retreat. Special links for the auction and musical event will be sent to all who participate in either week of the retreat. We also are working on more surprises for this retreat. Special guests are being invited to join us, and we hope to provide other activities and materials to support everyone’s experience in positive ways.
Live simultaneous translation in Spanish, Polish, Russian, Portuguese, German, French, Slovak and Hungarian will be available for both weeks. A Korean translation, while not in real time, will be available within a day of each teaching. Additional languages will be announced as they are added.
Online Auction June 23–July 7
Part of Summer Retreat Online Activities
Spontaneous Creativity by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, signed and blessed by H.E. Yongdzin Lopon Tenzin Namdak RinpocheThis summer, we are not only bringing Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s summer retreat at Serenity Ridge online; we also are offering participants as much of the retreat experience as we can. One important part of that experience is the summer auction, which this year will take place completely online from June 23–July 7.
Everyone who has been to Summer Retreat at Serenity Ridge knows that one of the favorite moments outside of the teachings is our annual auction. This is an especially important activity for Serenity Ridge Retreat Center—the headquarters of Ligmincha International—because it is the chief fundraiser for the year and an important part of how the center covers its operating expenses. In the past it has helped create the Five Elements garden, purchase much-needed kitchen equipment, upgrade the lama house (where Rinpoche and guest lamas reside during their stays), and more.
Etched Tapihritsa glass and standAll are welcome to attend this year’s online auction. Jana Kolarikova, a resident at Serenity Ridge and longtime student of Bön, is busy gathering dharma objects, photographing and describing them, and setting up the platform as this article goes to press.
Many beautiful items will be available on the auction site for you to bid on, from malas to jewelry, thangkas, books and more. We are especially excited that Rinpoche and his wife, Tsering, will be donating a couple of special items from among their personal possessions. We can’t tell you what they are yet, but be sure to go online when the auction opens to find out.
We will be sending out a special Voice of Clear Light notice the morning of June 23 to let everyone know the link to the auction. Be sure to look for it!
‘Coming to Rest in the Sheer Aliveness of Being’
An Excerpt from Spontaneous Creativity by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Being introduced to the inner refuge of the natural mind sets in motion a powerful journey of transformation. Ignorance of the inner refuge—our true nature—is the root cause of suffering. We are not trying to get ignorance to change. But ignorance needs a good rest, because it has been working too hard. It is inefficient and unproductive and drains our energy with no positive outcome.
When we are not aware of the openness of being, we suffer, and we try to do anything to relieve our discomfort. We look for things to be different from what is here. Misguidedly, we often seek refuge—some semblance of stillness, silence, and spaciousness—by changing our circumstances, our mood, even our thoughts. But these actions are driven by the three poisons—aversion, desire, and ignorance—and cannot free us from suffering. We need to connect with the openness of our being, not disconnect from it. We need to be conscious, not unconscious. We need to allow our experiences, not run away from them. We need to know rather than wander in the unknown. The direct root to the awareness of openness that is the source of creativity is to allow the restless moving mind to rest. As always, the instruction is: Leave it as it is.
Spontaneous creativity arises from being fully conscious and living connected to the source, the inner refuge. When we are connected, the three attributes of the inner refuge—unbounded spaciousness, pure awareness, the warmth of positive qualities—become available to us. Each attribute has a distinct function in clearing the obstacles to the full expression of our positive qualities.
Resting in the space of being clears obstacles. Often, however, we don't trust that. You may worry, If I allow my fear to fully emerge, if I don't try to control it, won't it take me over? But as great as your fear is, it is nowhere near as vast as the spaciousness of being. When you experience fear, instead of shutting down or constricting in any way, open to it. If you keep fear at a distance, it will have power over you. But if you stop pushing it away—ignoring it or trying to suppress it—the power of openness becomes available to you. The fear dissolves because there is no inherent power in it. It is a construct of your mind; therefore it can deconstruct. That's all there is to fear.
If you are connected to the space of being, everything you experience is workable. The space of being is always unbounded, but whatever moves within it has a bounded sense of itself. Therefore, when you are connected to the space of being, obstacles will dissolve, simply because an obstacle cannot remain unless it is being maintained. If you are secretly maintaining something—feeding an obstacle—that effort will be exposed, allowing you to release your effort and rest in the openness itself. What appears is not permanent. If you are resting in openness, you are not feeding your fear so it exhausts itself. Connecting with the space of being clears obstacles. They self-arise and self-liberate. This is why the openness of your being is a true refuge from suffering.
When what you are focusing on, such as your fear, is met with open awareness, it dissolves. But what happens then to the self, the I who was experiencing the fear? If you bring naked attention to the self, it too releases. What is left is awareness that directly experiences the space of being. Then what happens? Your energy starts to move. Thoughts and ideas are not solid and fixed, and they rearrange themselves in fresh and inspired ways. So much freedom becomes available to you! As you rest in the openness of being, old habits dissolve, allowing for the emergence of new possibilities. Pure awareness is a true refuge that liberates suffering.
Awareness that is not wedded to thoughts and opinions but directly perceives the openness of being ignites the warmth of genuine presence. Qualities like joy and love emerge. The warmth of these positive qualities is the third attribute of the inner refuge. Warmth expands and moves us to express creatively. A fresh thought arises and guides us in a new direction. Something is happening! Windows are opening! Appreciate this aliveness. You might feel inspired to write, to paint, to cook, to reach out to people. Acknowledge and celebrate your creative expression. The warmth of positive qualities is a true refuge that heals your suffering and benefits others.
Spontaneous Creativity: Meditations for Manifesting Your Positive Qualities by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is available at Ligmincha's online bookstore here.
Public Address by H.H. Lungtok Dawa Dhargyal Rinpoche
First Online Talk by His Holiness Now on YouTube
On May 13, 2020, Ligmincha International premiered a recorded public address by H.H. Lungtok Dawa Dhargyal Rinpoche, the 34th Menri Trizin and spiritual leader of the Tibetan Bön tradition. In his eight-minute presentation, His Holiness offers the international community his thoughts and advice concerning the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The talk is in Tibetan, and subtitles are available in 14 languages: Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, and Turkish. To access the subtitles of your choice, at the bottom right of the YouTube screen click on “Settings” (the gear icon) and then “Subtitles.”
The address by His Holiness is a recorded excerpt of a longer talk for the international community during a 90-minute live broadcast entitled “Prayers for the Sick, the Dying and the Dead.” View the 90-minute broadcast here
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche Sabbatical for 2020
Stay Connected Online
Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche has announced that he is cancelling almost all of his in-person teachings for the remainder of 2020, and extending his sabbatical through the end of the calendar year. He will continue online teachings and practices through his Facebook webcasts, which will be done from his home.
Since previously cancelling his spring teachings in Europe and the United States, Rinpoche has been at home with his wife, Tsering, and son, Senghe. While he has been actively teaching on Facebook, and leading Ligmincha’s first-ever online retreat in early April—with an attendance of more than 800 people—he is spending more time with his family, reflecting, and practicing.
“More and more I feel that the universe is saying that right now is the time to take my sabbatical instead of waiting until next year as I had planned to do,” Rinpoche says. “Given the current situation with the coronavirus, it is quite possible that we would have to cancel most or all of the scheduled events anyway.”
A teaching schedule for 2021, similar to what was planned for this year and cancelled, is in the process of being prepared, with input from organizers in sanghas around the world.
For now, the only retreats Rinpoche plans to teach through the end of 2020 will be an online summer retreat organized by Ligmincha International and Serenity Ridge; an online October retreat on "Serenity Ridge Dialogues: Body, Breath and Mind" previously scheduled at Serenity Ridge; the Fall Retreat in October at Serenity Ridge in Shipman, Virginia; and a November retreat at Esalen in Big Sur, California. It is possible the in-person retreats also may need to be cancelled as well, in response to the coronavirus, but Rinpoche will hold them if it is possible.
To offer support to people during this time of social distancing and the coronavirus, Rinpoche will continue to teach and guide practices online through his Facebook webcasts. You can learn about upcoming webcasts as they are planned by visiting cybersangha.net.
Rinpoche’s teaching schedule through the remainder of the year is available here.
CyberSangha Offerings for June 2020
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche Plans a Full Schedule of Free Online Broadcasts
To support us all in maintaining serenity, staying healthy and caring for loved ones during the worldwide pandemic, throughout June 2020 Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche continues to offer a full schedule of live online broadcasts from his home. They include teachings, guided meditations, mantra recitation sessions and conversations with invited presenters. Other weekend teachings may be scheduled in coming days; visit cybersangha.net for updates.
All broadcasts except the June 5 24-Hour Full Moon Practice can be viewed live on the Facebook page of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche or at the “Learn more” links below.
Friday, June 5
24-Hour Full Moon Practice of Sherap Chamma
On June 5, 2020, and each subsequent full moon of 2020, join us online for meditation followed by a 24-hour mantra recitation session. The June 5 session starts with a guided meditation at 10 a.m. New York time on the day of the full moon and ends at 10 a.m. the following day. We will be supported by Ligmincha International’s global community of practitioners. Unlike Rinpoche’s CyberSangha® Facebook Live broadcasts, the 24-hour full moon practices take place via Zoom, in an online meeting space. There is no cost to participate, but registration is required in advance of each 24-hour session.
Learn more and register
Saturday, June 6, 1 p.m. New York time
Living & Dying Without Fear, Part 6
In the final session of a six-part series, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche guides a meditation related to the Tibetan Practice of chöd. There is no need to view the previous sessions to participate.
Learn more and access recordings of Parts 1-5
Sunday, June 7, 2020, 10 a.m. New York time
Teachings & Prayers for the Pandemic from Six Spiritual Traditions of Tibet
In a Facebook Live conversation hosted by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal, knowledgeable representatives of six Tibetan Buddhist traditions offer teachings and prayers for the pandemic according to their respective traditions, while transcending sectarian interests. These esteemed teachers include:
- Pönlop Trinley Nyima Rinpoche (Yungdrung Bön)
- Sogan Rinpoche (Nyingma)
- Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche (Kagyu)
- Khenpo Gyurmey Dorjee (Sakya)
- Gyaltsab Rinpoche Choekyi Nangpa (Jonang)
- Yangten Rinpoche (Gelug)
The June 7 broadcast will be in Tibetan with simultaneous translation into English and many other languages.
Learn more
Friday, June 12, 1 p.m. New York time
Fasting for a Healthy Body & Soul: Perspectives on an Ancient Tradition
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche hosts a Facebook Live conversation with invited experts.
Visit cybersangha.net in coming days for more details.
Sunday, June 28, 1 p.m. New York time
Traditional and Modern Dance and Music of Tibet
Invited artists perform live; hosted by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche.
Visit cybersangha.net in coming days for more details
View the full schedule of upcoming live broadcasts with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, access translations in multiple languages, and search an archive of all of Rinpoche’s previously recorded webcasts at cybersangha.net.
Help Continue Support for Practitioners During These Times of Change
A Letter from Ligmincha President Rob Patzig
Kunzang Khang, House of All Goodness, Serenity Ridge Retreat CenterDear Ligmincha Sangha,
At Ligmincha right now we are thinking so much about the extended family that is this sangha. It is our collective prayer that the practices of Yungdrung Bön sustain you during these turbulent times. COVID-19 is creating so many challenges to physical, mental and economic well-being worldwide, and all of us are affected in different and lasting ways.
Ligmincha has radically reoriented itself for better support of practitioners around the world during this time of social distancing and sickness. I’d like to tell you about some of the things we are doing right now, and ask for your help to continue.
First, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche has decided to “listen to what the universe is saying so clearly,” and bring most of his sabbatical forward into 2020 rather than 2021 as previously announced.
All of his spring teachings in Europe were cancelled, and we are now working to postpone or reschedule almost all of his events scheduled in 2020. Also, Ligmincha’s resident lamas’ and other teachers’ retreats and activities globally are on hold. In spite of all these cancellations, Ligmincha is expanding its activities in new and exciting ways. Like so many, we are working to rapidly and permanently integrate more technology into our organization.
On April 3–5, we offered our first-ever three-day online retreat with Rinpoche. From his home in California, Rinpoche reached out to us in our homes all over the world, in 15 countries. We could never have imagined how successful or powerful this retreat would prove to be. With the help of technology and a dedicated group of sangha members, we were able to quickly organize this live event, translated into nine languages in real time, with flexible pricing, allowing everyone who wanted to participate to do so. We had 903 registrations. This was a work of passionate engagement by many, many people. We fully expect that more online retreats with Rinpoche and other teachers will be offered soon.
In February we began a 24-hour Full-Moon Practice of Sherap Chamma, which takes place on every full moon. Our first session had more than 1,000 participants! Our first online musical offering took place on March 29 with five musicians from around the world, and a second took place on April 26. Two more sessions took place in May. Our international sanghas are offering opportunities to practice on a daily or weekly basis via Zoom and Facebook Live. Countries actively online include Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, France, Germany, Hungary, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United States. And, of course, we are fully supporting the work of Rinpoche’s CyberSangha, which is continuing to offer live webcasts on Rinpoche’s Facebook page. You can learn more about these directly from cybersangha.net.
New online courses for those wishing to dive deeper into specific topics are in development. A course on the outer, inner and secret tsa lung with Alejandro Chaoul-Reich is now taking place through June 21. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche has filmed a new course on sleep yoga that should be available later this year.
We also are installing tools to record and livestream retreats with Rinpoche and other Bön lamas and teachers directly from Serenity Ridge. This will allow so many more people to move deeply into the sacred space of the center and deeply connect to their practice in a group setting. We are adding cameras, better microphones, digital streaming tools, and we have just completed an upgrade to broadband internet to ensure the quality of these broadcasts.
All of these new programs, the maintenance of Serenity Ridge, and supporting our staff are taking place at a time when we have seen our income from events almost entirely disappear due to retreat cancellations. Almost 60 percent of Ligmincha International’s income comes from retreats held at Serenity Ridge. While the spring online retreat was a great success, we must ask for your support. This year we will depend almost entirely on donations to fund our operations.
We critically need your support to sustain all that Rinpoche has built in these past 28 years, and to further build out our online capabilities in support of practitioners at home and around the globe. These changes are not just for the short term, but are a reimagining of all the many ways that we can provide access to the teachings and support to everyone, everywhere. Please help us to ensure that the teachings can continue not only in this time of uncertainty and challenge for all of us, but for future generations. Donations, especially monthly and quarterly donations, are of immense benefit in terms of helping us achieve our goals.
With enormous gratitude to our teachers and this beautiful sangha,
Rob Patzig
President
Ligmincha International
Ligmincha Learning Online Courses
'The Three Heart Mantras,' 'The Six Lokas' and More
Ligmincha Learning is pleased to offer two upcoming online courses with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. Courses feature beautiful video teachings, guided meditations, readings, journal writing activities, and the opportunity to interact with senior mentors and classmates from around the world.
- July 6–August 10: “The Three Heart Mantras.” The Three Heart Mantras are used in many different meditations in the Bön tradition and play a major role in the ngrondro practices. They are said to be the essence of enlightenment in sound and energy, and as we sing or chant the mantras our awareness is transformed to be in union with the Buddhas. They are used for purification, protection and as primary practices toward self-realization.
Learn more/register - August 14–October 3: “Transforming Our Emotions Through the Six Lokas.” At one time or another each of us suffer strong emotions that throw us off balance, cause us to act in ways that we later regret, and make us lose touch with our true nature. Centuries ago the masters of the Bön lineage developed the meditations of the Six Lokas specifically to remedy this situation, to help us live our lives in a balanced and relaxed way.
Learn more/register - March 7–December 31 (Ongoing registration): “Ngöndro: The Foundational Practices.” The ngöndro teachings are a set of nine practices that offer complete instructions for taming, purifying and perfecting the suffering mind. Although these practices are considered the foundation for entrance into the five-part cycle of Tibetan Bön dzogchen teachings – Bön’s highest teachings on the nature of mind – many practitioners adopt the ngöndro as their main meditation and complete the nine sets of 100,000 repetitions over the course of a lifetime. They are considered to be the foundational practices for the entire tradition.
Learn more/register - Ongoing & Free Courses: Ligmincha Learning offers several ongoing, free courses. They include "Starting a Meditation Practice, Parts 1 & 2" (Part 1 is translated into Spanish, French and Polish); “The True Source of Healing”; “Living with Joy, Dying in Peace”; and “Transforming Your World Through Service.”
'Tibetan Dream Yoga' and Self-Guided Zhiné
GlideWing Online Courses
Glidewing is pleased to offer an online workshop with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche on “Tibetan Dream Yoga” from June 27–July 26, 2020. In this four-week online workshop, students will explore the ancient Bön Buddhist teachings of Tibetan dream yoga. The workshop provides detailed instruction for dream yoga practice, with discussion of the relationships between dreaming and waking and between dreaming and death. Rinpoche also will provide instructions for foundational practices done during the day and for the uses and methods of lucid dreaming.
Learn more/register
Also available (ongoing): Free self-guided workshop on “Taming Your Mind: The Tibetan Practice of Zhiné” with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. In these troubled times, a practice for developing concentration and stillness of mind is needed more than ever. This workshop is tailored for beginning meditators but will be beneficial for anyone—including experienced practitioners—who needs support in stabilizing their thoughts and their mind.
Learn more and register
Note: These will be the last GlideWing courses with Rinpoche through the end of 2020 since he is on sabbatical.
Ligmincha Europe Magazine's Final Issue #30
Gratitude for Magazine's Beautiful Support to Students
Ton Bisscheroux presenting hardbound Ligmincha Europe Magazines to Tenzin Wangyal RinpocheTon Bisscheroux, editor and founder of Ligmincha Europe Magazine, has worked tirelessly and with much love and devotion over the past 10 years on each color-filled online magazine that has given the worldwide sangha so much. Through in-depth interviews, articles on the European retreats and sangha, poetry and photographs and lots more, he has connected us all to the wisdom of Bön, to our teachers and to the sangha.
While we are sad to see this great magazine ending, we are happy to share with you some good news on the horizon – Ton will be joining us as a contributing editor for VOCL! Look for a new article by Ton in the August issue. We are so excited to see what the future holds!
Download the magazine as a PDF
Read it on your screen
Finding Connection Through Free 3 Doors Zoom Sessions
Join Us for Guided Practice and Discussion in June and More
During these times when many people are experiencing stress or feelings of isolation, The 3 Doors has been offering well-attended opportunities to gather and practice together on Zoom. Join senior teacher Marcy Vaughn June 10 for a new guided session, or listen to other free prerecorded sessions that are available.
Wednesday, June 10, 1-2:30 p.m. New York Time: Senior teacher Marcy Vaughn leads a 90-minute free guided practice and discussion session on Zoom.
Link: https://zoom.us/j/780944544
Meeting ID: 612 559 139
Here are a few 45-minute guided practices from 3 Doors senior teachers that can be listened to at any time.
- April 22, 2020: Soothe Our Fears, Calm Our Minds with Raven Lee
- April 19, 2020: Coming Into Relationship with Experience with Laura Shekerjian
- February 13, 2020: Finding Refuge in Times of Change with Marcy Vaughn
And if you would like some quick relief, Marcy Vaughn recently contributed seven-minute guided practices on Stillness, Silence and Spaciousness that are featured in Tricycle Magazine’s podcast: For the Moment: Short Practices for Relief and Resilience.
To learn more about 3 Doors practice opportunities and upcoming programs, visit the3doors.org. You also can enjoy 3 Doors guided practices on the Insight Timer app.
Sangha Sharing
From the Heart
This offering by Jacob Kelly in Colorado was inspired by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, his beloved root lama, and the teachings Rinpoche gave while on retreat in Boulder, Colorado, in fall 2019. We invite YOU to share a poem of yours that has arisen through your connection to Bön. Just send it to our
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.
The Wisdom Tree
Before me stands a tree, with leaves – so many they are uncountable – yet, each one, though I do not see them all individually, is invaluable, for they collectively, in part, breathe out the oxygen that I breathe in, in order to survive, and more than that – to enjoy life.
This tree has many branches, so many – I do not know how many – that reach out and up to become one with the air around it and the heavens above.
This tree has roots deep within the earth and all the elements of nature, known and unknown – though, I speak of the kind of knowing, here, the likes of which are held in pages of written records. For the true knowledge is known. It is experienced by the birds and insects, and through the sap and the dirt and the tree herself. It is known through the winds that dance through her branches, and the joyful rains that wet her bark and leaves.
Before me stands a tree that, though it contains a vast, deep wisdom that can be expounded upon for volumes and ages, its true wisdom is contained within its connection with the heavens and the earth and its simple being, and the beings around it. It is a tree, it does not try to be other than that, for it would fail.
Many birds, insects and squirrels have sought refuge in this tree, and indeed what they found was a harmonious coexistence in which they, each to the other, could be their own, natural selves.
They have found a home.
Before me stands a tree. But it is not just a tree, it is a glorious manifestation of all wisdom in the universe, and I am in awe to be witness to its presence. For, not only is it beyond words to see that this kind of intelligence and beauty exists in nature, but it reflects my own, simple, elegant, amazing, natural being-ness and presence. And that really is something.
Jacob Kelly
Student and Teacher
Together on the Path
As students on the Tibetan Bön Buddhist path, we offer our teachers a range of questions from the simple to the complex. Here is a question about knowing what practice to do and when.
Student: I have a question about going home after retreat and taking the practice home. We did a lot of practices. How should I work with the different practices?
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche: The other day we were suggesting the importance of knowing the amount of time you have and what situation you are in. Your situation is not always the same. There are good and bad days and terrible days. When you are experiencing more difficulty, do more physical practices like tsa lung and trul khor. Sometimes you can go directly into self-transformation; sometimes you need more purification; sometimes you can spend more time abiding. Know the condition of yourself and the practice. That doesn't mean every day you change your practice, but just be aware in this way.
I'm not suggesting that you change the practice whenever you are a little moody – you can always practice the same thing no matter what condition you are in – but sometimes, in just being aware of your condition, changing the emphasis of the practice helps.
It's like traveling in a hot air balloon: if you want to fly, you have to know the condition of the wind. Which direction is the wind moving? If it is the wrong direction it is better not to fly that day, or you will end up in the wrong place. If the air is moving in the right direction and the speed is good, then you take off.
I went up in a balloon one time, and the first thing the pilot did was to kick the dust to see how it settled. The second thing he did was to look down at the village to see where the smoke was going. Think that the smoke is your internal energy. Is it going up or down? Which way the smoke is going determines which practice is good today. It is a matter of skillful means.
Spanish Translation of VOCL
Link to April Issue Now Available
Look for the translations of Voice of Clear Light newsletters at the top of the VOCL website.
