Special Announcements Issue
Volume 10, Number 11 / November 2010
Summer Retreat 2011
His Holiness the 33rd Menri Trizen to Offer Blessings, Transmissions
We are excited and honored to announce that His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima, spiritual leader of the Bon tradition, will be blessing us with his presence at the coming Summer Retreat and bestowing important initiations/transmissions. The three-week retreat at Ligmincha Institute’s Serenity Ridge retreat center continues with precious dzogchen teachings from Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. The dates are June 25 through July 15, 2011. We invite you to join us for this rare and unique opportunity! Learn more >
Job Opportunity at Ligmincha
A New Position: “Director of Outreach”
Ligmincha Institute has a job opening for a Director of Outreach. This full-time, on-site salaried position will involve marketing retreats and other events at Ligmincha Institute’s Serenity Ridge Retreat Center to achieve the goal of maximizing attendance while expanding our on-site offerings. More information > 
Update: Long-Life Mantras for Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
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A Worldwide Gift for Rinpoche’s Birthday
A few months ago Voice of Clear Light invited sangha members around the world to recite Rinpoche’s long-life mantra in honor of his upcoming 50th birthday. We hope you all have been reciting! A recent count of recitations done so far for Tenzin Rinpoche is close to 390,000! Let’s make it to 1 million mantras in time for his birthday celebration in Nepal in March. More information > Learn more about the birthday celebration >
In addition, did you know that the Lishu Institute Website now contains information in five languages — German, English, Spanish, Polish and Russian? Look for the flags on the top left of the homepage, www.lishu.org. And be sure to check out the special photo gallery on the Website that shows the visit of H.H. the Dalai Lama to Menri Monastery, as well as other meetings between spiritual leaders of the Bon tradition and other major Tibetan spiritual traditions of Tibet.
Final in Series of Recorded Talks for 2010
View Teaching by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Recorded Live Nov. 16
Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche recently gave his final live Webcast of 2010 on Tuesday, Nov. 16, during a free public talk offered in partnership with Unity Church, Charlottesville, Va. His teaching, "Nourishing Your Inner Being," was recorded.
View 85-minute teaching >
View guided meditation only >
A wonderful series of talks and Webcasts are already planned for 2011. The first scheduled Webcast will be a guided dzogchen practice by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche to be given on April 17 from 12 noon – 1:15 p.m. Eastern Time (New York time). It will be followed soon thereafter (April 20) by a live broadcast of a public talk by Rinpoche, marking the start of a series on how to unleash your creativity. So mark your calendar!
Full schedule of 2011 Webcasts >
International Sangha News
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Students Report From Around the World
Entering Through the Three DoorsSangha member Karolina Seltenheim of Austria shares her experiences surrounding recent retreats in Austria and at Serenity Ridge, and retreatants share their photographs.
The 2010 Summer Retreat at Serenity Ridge on the Three Doors was an opportunity for me to deepen my understanding of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s teachings. As I am very practically oriented, Rinpoche’s ability to translate the ancient teachings so they can be applied to our modern lives was most helpful.
For me, the bottom line of this retreat was taking refuge. Each day we would take refuge — drop again and again into the stillness, silence, and spaciousness — until one day refuge took me into the place and space that could host all my emotions, feelings, and problems. All the difficulties that I previously couldn’t abide, they dissolved. Wonderful and effortless!
A few months after the retreat I had the experience of organizing Rinpoche’s dzogchen (Zhang Zhung Nyam Gyu) teachings in Austria. So many people had been waiting for years to attend this one retreat, and it was a perfect setting for applying all the practices learned.
For example, when signing the contract with the center where the retreat was to take place, as the only responsible party I had to pay a large deposit of my own money without knowing if enough people would register in time. Singing the warrior syllable A was the solution for clearing space and cultivating trust.
When I had to answer people’s emails, I was able to more clearly observe my pain body and pain energy. I wanted to give quick responses, but never was able. As I felt the tension building, the tsa lung practice was the solution.
In the end, when the retreat finally manifested, it was more or less effortless — DZA!
It was a wonderful retreat: the teachings from Rinpoche at that beautiful retreat place, the mountains with the first snow. There were 142 people from 10 different EU countries and one from the United States, giving us the wonderful feeling of an international sangha. Please have a look, just for a moment, at the beautiful photos below, especially the one of the rainbow that appeared during the retreat in the cloudless blue sky.
— Karolina Seltenheim
Photograph by Bogusia Dausend
Images from October 2010 dzogchen retreat in Austria; click to view:
Bon Pacific Northwest Sangha News
Bon Pacific Northwest sangha members have been working hard on their Website, which includes a new and improved interactive Weblog right on the homepage, where students can all share and post information about the teachings; carry on conversations related to practice; and share insights, experiences and questions.
Bon Pacific Northwest is also happy to announce that Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will be teaching “The Five Element Soul Retrieval Practice” from April 29 through May 1, 2011, in the Northwest area. For more information about this retreat and about weekly meditation practices in the Northwest, visit www.bonpacificnorthwest.org or call 360-352-7066.
Upcoming Retreats
Ligmincha’s Serenity Ridge Retreat Center
The retreats described below will take place at Serenity Ridge, Ligmincha Institute’s retreat center in Nelson County, Va. To register or for more information, click on the links below, or contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 434-263-6304.
Dec. 27, 2010 - Jan. 1, 2011
Dzogchen: The View, Meditation, Behavior, and Result
The Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung, Part 3
With Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
The Experiential Transmission of the Zhang Zhung Masters is the centerpiece of Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s dzogchen teachings and is presented at Serenity Ridge each year at our winter retreat. Prerequisite: Practitioners who have already received the Part 2 or higher-level teachings in a previous cycle of these teachings are warmly invited to attend this retreat.
Learn more or register >
Extend your stay! You may stay up to three days after the winter retreat for personal retreat time. For more information or to register for an extended stay, contact the Ligmincha office at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or 434-263-6304.
April 13 - 17, 2011
Living With Joy, Dying in Peace
Gaining Comfort and Intimacy With the Dying Process
Annual Spring Retreat With Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Denying our own mortality not only separates us from the vibrancy of living in the moment, it also leaves us ill equipped for the critical moment when death comes to ourselves or to our loved ones. The Bon Buddhist tradition is rich with knowledge and methods for using this Great Moment wisely. Through teachings and guided meditations, in this five-day retreat Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will help us to: recognize death as a doorway to opening the heart and achieving self-realization; prepare for our own death; and learn how to promote a more peaceful, uplifting dying process in others.
Learn more or register >
May 18 - 22, 2011
Self-Purification Through the Five Enlightened Bodies
With Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche
Please join us this May for these special teachings with Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche, abbot (khenpo) of Triten Norbutse Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal. A powerful means of purifying oneself on all levels of experience, these teachings from the ancient Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyu cycle of dzogchen teachings have never before been offered at Ligmincha.
Learn more or register >
June 25 - July 15, 2011
A View From the Heart: Purifying Your Vision Through the Practice of the Six Lamps
Annual Summer Retreat With Honored Guest H.H. Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche
and Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Everyone is cordially invited to join us this summer for a rare and unique opportunity to receive teachings and transmissions from His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche, the 33rd Menri Trizen; and Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, founder and spiritual director of Ligmincha Institute. Ligmincha's annual Summer Retreat is open to newcomers and longtime students alike. Registration will be open online beginning Dec. 20, 2010.
Learn more >
To register for any of the above retreats, or for more information about teachings in the Bon Buddhist tradition of Tibet, please contact us at
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or 434-263-6304, or go to: