themirror 96

5/20/2018 TheMirror 96

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Namgyalgarand

Tashigar Sur

Pages 1415

Chgyal NamkhaiNorbu

Dzogchen andDirect Transmission

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No.96January, February 2009

News

Upcoming RetreatswithChgyal Namkhai Norbu

TeachingTeaching

Photo: M. Farmer

Ihave arrived to the conclusion that thebest way to end a year and start a newone happens in a teaching retreat with

our precious Master. The end of 2008 wascrowned again with his limitless wisdomand compassion, in this opportunity, fromTashigar South in Cordoba, Argentina. Aninclement and warm sun greeted us, whileintense and prolonged summer rainsgreeted others. Christmas festivities wereon, a nice excuse to share time togetherand enjoy a show with some improvisedbut joyful dancers. It is thus that this timeof the year becomes not only an opportuni-ty to be physically closer to Rinpoche andour Vajra brothers and sisters, but also,above all, to receive instructions on what

the Master said is the main teaching inDzogchen: Tregchd or Total Relaxation

in the Presence (its name in the Upade-sha series). Maybe trying to explain whatTregchd is in a clear and precise way, asRinpoche does, would be too daring. Nev-ertheless, I would like to comment somepassages and events of this wonderful re-treat which caught my attention.

At the beginning of the retreat, ChgyalNamkhai Norbu said, having dualism

vision is not main problem. The problemis we do not know how our real nature is,and we are not in that condition. Then allour karmic, ordinary vision becomes veryconcrete for us. Then, problems and suf-fering become real. Nevertheless, theTeachings become an incomparable tool to

discover or enter Dzogchen knowledge anddwell permanently in such non-intellectual

knowledge. This is the main practice, likedrinking water: an activity made moreto enjoy rather than to live. Naturally,Rinpoche is absolutely conscious of ourstill limited condition, which is why hepresents us with a range of practices that

we can apply to overcome our differentlimitations and recognize our true con-dition. One of them is known as YesheZangthal and was transmitted to us duringthe second day of the retreat: through ex-periences of emptiness, clarity and joy wecan discover Instant Presence. At the sametime, that calendar day was New Moon,auspicious date to perform Ganapuja.Our patient Master explained once morethe simple version of it, so all could take

part in this banquet of limitless offeringsand strengthen our Samaya. Later, the day>> continued on page 6

>> continued on page 9

2009

AustraliaCaloundraMarch 1621

Teaching RetreatMelbourneApril 35Weekend Teaching Retreat

NamgyalgarApril 10 15Retreat

April 17 22Retreat

SingaporeMay 13Weekend Teaching Retreat

JapanMay 810Weekend Teaching Retreat

Russian FederationMoscowMay 1519Retreat

GermanyMay 2731Teaching Retreat

RomaniaMerigar EastJune 12 21Teaching Retreat

June 228SMS Base ExamJune 29July 6

SMS I Level TrainingItalyMerigar WestAugust 717Rinpoches Personal Retreat

August 10 16Retreat

Sept. 414Vacation in Sardegna

Oct. 210Retreat

Yeshi SilvanoNamkhai

Dharma asExperience

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Dont go too much aftertitles of teachingsDzogchen Tregchd Retreat with Chgyal Namkhai NorbuTashigar South, Argentina, December 26, 2008 to January 1, 2009

Paul Sablich

Rinpoche teaching in the Gonpa at Tashigar South. Photo: N. Zeitz


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THE MIRROR No. 96 January, February 2009

Dzogchen Teachings are related to transmission. Wedo not learn Dzogchen only through intellectualunderstanding. In this case, transmission becomes

important. What is transmission in Vajrayana teaching? InVajrayana you need to receive initiations with any kind ofpractice and teaching. If you dont receive initiations at least

you need to receive the transmission of the lungs of all man-tras. It doesnt mean when you receive a lungall is perfect. Alungis a kind of permission. You can recite mantras and pro-duce the recitation of mantras. To make the recitation com-plete you need initiation, transmission of lungand instruc-tion all these three. Then you learn how to do the practiceas well. This is generally done in Vajrayana teaching.

Dzogchen teaching is part of Vajrayana. Vajrayana, forthe most part, is the path of transformation. That is thereason for the initiations. For example, if you are follow-ing sutra teaching, you dont need any initiation. You onlyneed to do something like refuge and, in the Mahayanasystem, cultivating bodhicitta. You can study and learneverything related to the teachings in a more intellectual

way. So you can see the difference.We can have initiations related to the Anuyoga tradi-

tion in the Dzogchen teaching, but introduction is most

important in the Dzogchen teaching. Introduction doesnot mean that the teacher explains, and then you listen andunderstand something. When we speak of transmission

we speak of three kinds, and these three kinds are relatedto how this teaching originally arose. We saygong da nyen

gy (dgongs brda snyan brgyud) in Tibetan. Gongmeans directtransmission, so that means when we are in a state of dhar-makaya we directly receive that understanding and knowl-edge. For example, when we say Vajradhara or Samantab-hadra, and how the teaching was transmitted historically,

we understand that all sambogakaya manifestations re-ceived that transmission directly. Direct transmissionmeans beyond words, beyond explanations, beyond visu-alizations like mandalas, deities, and pure dimensions.

That is the principle when we say masam jme (ma bsambrjod med). Masam jmemeans we cannot explain becauseit is beyond words; sometimes it means we cannot even

think that. If we are generating a mandala and deities, weare doing that with our mind. That is not beyond mind.So masam jmemeans it is beyond all this; it is the trans-mission from the dharmakaya and that is the origin; butthen that transmission is received by sambhogakaya, andsambhogakaya transmitted it to nirmanakaya. Sambhoga-kaya means all manifestations through the essence of ele-ments. So there are forms, different kinds of manifesta-tions, and we say that the pure vision or sambhogakayais transmitted to the nirmanakaya and from the nirmana-kaya to our condition.

Many mahasiddhas, for example, even if they live in thehuman condition their capacity is not limited like an ordi-nary human being. They have the capacity to go and be be-

yond time, and for that reason they can have contact withsambhogakaya manifestations. Some people in our con-dition have some fantasy. These people say they have vi-sions of sambhogakaya. It is noteasy to have these visions;if you have those visions you can manifest the quality ofsambhogakaya, even nirmanayaka, and then you mustmanifest like mahasiddhas, not only having sambhoga-kaya vision. In general we call this fantasy.

Sambhogakaya manifestations or visions are not fanta-sy. Some people take substances like drugs and say, Oh,I have sambhogakaya visions. That is complete samsaric

vision, not sambhogakaya vision. You are not respectingyour energy level. You are charging your energy and thenyou have these kinds of aspects. You charge and charge,again and again, and then one day you explode. One day

you finish your life and that is sambhogakaya for that per-son. So then you can understand what fantasy is.

You can understand the capacity of nirmanakaya mani-festations like Guru Padmasambhava and all mahasiddhas.

They have contact with sambhogakaya manifestations andreceive transmissions. It means the real initiations you re-ceive through sambhogakaya, through manifestations. Youdo not receive initiations by someone explaining that youshould do this or that. That is ordinary oral teaching. Thereare oral teachings that started with Buddha Shakyamuniand for years and years Buddha taught these teachings ev-erywhere. Everybody listened and heard what Buddha said.This is called oral teaching. When the teachers today ex-plain for hours and hours what we should do, that is oralteaching. Maybe they are not just like Buddha Shakyamuni,

who is a totally realized being, but even if they are not real-ized we consider them so, and we listen and receive oraltransmission. This is called oral transmission.

Even though the books of very ancient teachings nolonger remain with all the complete teachings but only

Photo: A. Chlimper

Dzogchen and Direct TransmissionDay 2 The Dzogchen Tregchd Teaching of Jigmed Lingpafrom the Instruction of Yeshe LamaTashigar South, Argentina, December 27, 2008

some words of the root principle of the teachings callednyengy (snyan brgyud),these are still oral teachings. Forexample, when Garab Dorje started Dzogchen teachinggenerally it is said that there was no Dzogchen teaching,and that is why he st arted to teach Dzogchen. But what itreally means that there were no t antras and lungsand orig-inal books of Dzogchen teachings, like today. It does notmean there were no nyengyor oral teachings and some

important words, etc. Nyengy teachings existed at thetime of Buddha Shakyamuni and even before that. There

were twelve or thirteen very famous teachers of Dzogchenin ancient times. All the teachings we have today, and mostDzogchen tantras, were not originally taught by GarabDorje, but by many of these twelve teachers who transmit-ted and taught in different epochs.

But of course, the condition of our world and humanbeings in the human condition is always within time andtime changes with circumstances. There have been manydark periods and also of periods of different kinds ofteachings, and when the dark periods start then all teach-ings disappear. A few nyengy-like things remain, becausenyengydoes not require books or representation on thematerial level. Nyengyremain in the mind of some prac-titioners or realized beings. Realized beings exist in anymoment everywhere, sometimes manifesting openly andsometimes not. That is an example of nyengy.

Da yig (brda yig) means with symbols. Teaching with sym-bols developed very much in tantrism in Vajrayana. In tantra,for example, the mandala and deities are all symbols, not thereal condition. It is also the use of symbols when we do Gu-ruyoga and the visualization of the white A and thigle. When

we use that symbol, we can have the realization the sameway that the mandala and deities, all the symbols, are devel-oped. Even the manifestation of deities, how many arms andlegs they have, what they hold in their hands, etc., everythingis a symbol and represents something. That is why tantrismdeveloped very much with the use of symbols.

In the Dzogchen teaching symbols are also very impor-tant. Sometimes if a teacher needs to explain to help thestudents understand such things, then by using symbols,people can understand much better. For example, one of

the symbols used in Dzogchen teachings is the mirror. Ifwe want to know the relationship of mind and nature ofmind, explaining with words is not easy, but we can havea more clear idea by giving examples with a symbol. Forexample, we say nature of mind, our real condition, is likethe potentiality of the mirror. We know that the mirror hasinfinite potentiality and for that reason anything we findin front of mirror can manifest instantly that reflection.We dont need to put any program in the mirror.

That means that infinite potentiality means going be-yond any kind of program. That is the example of our realnature and our real nature has infinite potentiality. Thatis how we explain primordial potentiality, as sound, lightand rays - just like the nature of the mirror. The mirrorcan manifest good or bad. The form, color and shape ofthe object in front of the mirror manifests perfectly. Even

if there is a small mirror, when you look in the mirror youcan see the reflection of a gigantic mountain. It is impos-sible to put that gigantic mountain in a small mirror. Butit can manifest. That is why we say infinite potentiality. Soreflections are like our mind level. At the mind level we are

judging, thinking and creating so many things. That is theexample of different kinds of reflections, good or bad.

Now you think a little, what is the relation between

that reflection and the mirror? Mirror means the poten-tialityof mirror, you cannot say there is no relationshipbetween the reflection and the mirror, and then you canunderstand how that corresponds to the relationship ofour mind to the nature of mind. It is just like that. You seehow symbols function and help us to understand manythings. Symbol and oral transmission are mainly for thedirect transmission. We say there are three transmissionsthat are not independent, but they can be independent forsome people. If someone did a lot of practice in a previouslife and has knowledge of teaching, it is not necessary inthis life that something like direct transmission is done. Itcan be that the teacher only explains orally that knowledgeand that person wakes up. So in this case, it can be thatoral transmission is independent. It can be the same wayalso for symbol transmission. We are not at that level. It is

very difficult for us to be at that level.In history there were some people who had this experi-

ence. For example, in ancient times, Manjushrimitra wentto argue with Garab Dorje. He did not go to Oddiyana tolearn and receive teachings from Garab Dorje, but whenhe asked Garab Dorje some questions, Garab Dorje usedsome words to explain, and through that oral transmissionManjushrimitra immediately woke up and became one ofGarab Dorjes most important students. That is an exam-ple, so these kinds of students do exist. Also in Tibet wehave history of these kinds of students, but it is very rare.

We mainly use direct transmission in Dzogchen Teach-ing. That is the principle taught by Garab Dorje. We havethe three statements of Garab Dorje. Those statementsare the conclusion of Dzogchen teachings, they are how

we enter into and apply Dzogchen knowledge. How canwe have realization of Dzogchen? Everything is related to

these three statements of Garab Dorje. In the three st ate-ments of Garab Dorje, the first statement is direct intro-duction. That means the teacher introduces directly to thestudent. This is the Dzogchen way, not the tantric or sutric

way. We introduce Dzogchen teaching, the real knowl-edge, which is beyond explanation. For that reason, theteacher cannot explain and introduce with oral transmis-sion, but still the teacher explains for hours and hours tomake the students understand how to have the knowledgeand in which way one can receive direct transmission. Theteacher also gives examples with symbols, so oral andsymbol transmission function together. So this is how di-rect transmission is used in the Dzogchen teaching.

Transcribed and edited by Naomi Zeitz


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THE MIRROR No. 96 January, February 200 9

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Yeshi Silvano NamkhaiYeshi Silvano Namkhai

>> continued on the following page

Yeshi Namkhai gave this explanation

at Tsegyalgar West in Baja, Califor-

nia. In this teaching Yeshi wanted to

explain how it is possible to utilizeaspects of modern society to explain

Dzogchen, in this case he was specifi-

cally referring to the New Age trends

that are particularly dominant inNorth America.

Now we will do an inter-esting exercise becausesometimes things mani-

fest by themselves. We understandthat we cannot always relate in

the same way, for example, Bud-dha needed to change his speechand the way he communicated

with people; Buddha changedhis speech, form and everything,relative to the different kinds ofpeople and beings he addressed.Now I will take a text that I cameto by chance because of a series ofdreams I had in Moscow. Thesedreams were connected with theidea of a better understanding ofthe Prajna Paramita.

The study of the Prajna Param-ita is definitely not my natural at-titude because I am not a scholarat all. My character is exactly the

opposite, so for me it was verystrange to have these dreamsabout such a complicated text. Itis complicated because I do notfind it easy to memorize all thesekinds of texts that are connected

with behavior behavior mean-ing that you work from logic onone side and you define a rulethat reflects with some precisebehavior and that behavior hassymbolic meaning. Then you fol-low all the activities written stepby step. The Prajna Paramita hasthis characteristic. You know very

well the heart of this text is theheart sutra, but in the heart sutrait is written exactly the opposite.It says: There is no nose, no eyesand in the end there is no dhar-ma, which means that in the end

we try to integrate all as we alwaysdo as the final goal in Dzogchen.

What is important is thatsometimes we get into the un-derstanding of things, but even-tually we transform because we

work with mind, so it is very im-portant. That is why we study thePrecious Vase as the first SantiMaha Sangha text; we study thisbecause we need to understandthat we have three paths of liber-

ation. We understand and workwith all three paths. It is not thatwe take this path like a catego-ry and say it is like this or that,or in the end we say what is thenice or bad aspect of each andthen choose something with ourmind. And in the end we choose

what we like but what we like isjust a concept, something totallyrelative. If we work this way wedont go into the meaning.

For example, this text that Ifound on the Internet is a seriesof experimental sessions of lec-tures and meditation. We usually

have this attitude to take texts,of course there are people whoare so brave they even take a textlike the Rigbai Kujyug, and startto invent meditation from this,but generally people are morerespectful; especially professorsfrom universities. They take a su-tra text and start to do meditationand say that if we dont apply it, itmakes no sense. They understandthere is some activity to do.

How does it happen thatsometimes people even under-stand some of the meaning? For

example, in this case, I do notknow who this person is and it isbetter I do not say the name, buthe understood something and hesaid, In this exercise I am givingin a Buddhist center, we will domeditation considering the first5 letters of the Sanskrit alphabetthat has more than 20 letters. Sothis fellow works with the PrajnaParamita, the wisdom sutra, andtakes this alphabet and for eachletter he finds the connection inthe wisdom sutra. But he says,For the purpose of this exerciseI decided to use experience asthe translation of dharma. He

thought to do something with theunderstanding of dharma as ex-perience, which is interesting forsomeone who is working at theuniversity and working with the

wisdom sutra. For some reasonhe thought if he substituted the

word dharma with the word ex-perience, it would make a totallydifferent meaning and sense.

That is why I found this in avery complicated way, which I willexplain later. But it is importantto understand how it works. Hetook this alphabet, the first fiveletters or syllables which are A RAPA SA NA, which is also the Man-

jushri mantra, A RA PA SA NA DIDI DI DI; you do a very strong DIlike you do with the Tara practice.So for each of these syllables hefound an explanation in the wis-dom sutra. For example, with theletter A, which is the same as theTibetan A, but of course in San-skrit it is not written like Tibetan.He says that this A is the door tothe insight of all dharmas thatare not produced, which meansthey are not born from the verybeginning. So it means dharma,from the letter A, from the vowelsound, and therefore it means all

dharma comes from the sound ofthe letter A. Without being born.This is the same meaning wehave in Dzogchen. That is why

we sound the letter A. And thenhe says, But how do I substitutethe word dharma with experi-ence? He gives a very interest-ing explanation and he says, Sorather than thinking for instancethat there is in-breath and out-breath, why is he talking aboutbreathing? He is talking aboutbreathing because they do medi-tation, sutra style, and they goand meet together and breathe

thinking they have to open theirminds and feel emptiness or shu-nyata. At the maximum they ar-rive to this understanding.

Eventually he did a correctsubstitution because he says, Idont have to think about in andout-breath, we can reflect thatthere is nothing called breath,there is just the experience ofthe physical sensation of breath-ing. From a physical point of

view that is correct. Also for aDzogchen practitioner it is cor-rect. We dont give importanceto whatwe contemplate; we just

accept the state as it is. We un-derstand it is a state. Unfortu-nately then he speaks only aboutthe physical sensation of breath-ing. So immediately we under-stand what the path of renun-ciation is; it means to work withthe body. But we are Dzogchenpractitioners so we dont limit tothe point of only physical breath-ing. What is breathing? Breath-ing is life. So what is the differ-ence between understanding themeaning of the letter A in thiscontext that he explains, eventotally intellectually, and what

we are doing? There is no differ-ence. If you understand the pathof renunciation then we can dothis in the same way, we can jointhis meditation group and do ex-actly the same. The difference isthat maybe they still continue tothink there is body, but we knowthat the body is just a vision, butthe method is correct because weare not thinking that in and outbreath makes some thing, we justknow that breathing is part ofour life. Our body is connected tothis breathing and this letter hascertain kinds of power, which isthe origin of unborn dharma.

What is dharma? Dharma isexperience because we know thatbeside reality there is the secondtype of vision, the vision of theexperience of the practitioner. Atthis point when we get these twounderstandings, immediately thethird understanding appears,pure vision. If we are Dzogchenpractitioners we can interpret itlike this. This is something to-tally new age that you can find inany place on the Internet.

I am trying to explain this be-cause people are very much con-nected to the idea of form. If

someone very cool comes withsome books in a very nice medita-tion center, and then starts to talklike this and maybe he looks niceand a lot of people think he hasknowledge, lets do what he says,but the main point is to under-stand what we are talking about.

This is about the first letter.This scholar tried to go a littledeeper, but of course there is alimit of understanding of theapproach of renunciation. In-stead of thinking in terms of thefeeling that this is my body, tryto think in terms that there is a

physical feeling. What does thismean? Instead of thinking thatthis is my body, try to think aboutthe nature of the feeling itself.This is the nature of body. If weget the nature of body and sinceeverything is connected, when

you discover one you discover all,and immediately you must dis-cover the nature of mind. This is

why sutra works. When you reallyunderstand the meaning of sutra,then sutra works perfectly, when

you understand the nature of thebody then you can understandthe nature of mind. Immediate-ly. It cannot be different. All hasto manifest. We have three exis-tences and all three should mani-fest at the same time. Focus onthe experience that is the flow ofsensation and perhaps mentalactivity, rather than extrapolat-ing from experience somethingsolid, he says. That means focuson experience itself, leave it as itis, instead of focusing on the ideaof the experience. So its correct.It is what I explained until now.

Then there is the second letterRA. It is the door to the insightthat all dharmas are withoutdirt. What does this mean? This

means that there is a third visioncalled pure vision. This is themain meaning. Something doneonce might be pleasant, but donea dozen times may be unpleas-ant. That means you get bored.One day the same thing that maythrill us may bore us. Experienceis just experience and therefore itis pure. This is correct. It meansif we understand that experienceis just experience, the vision ofa practitioner, then this visionimmediately becomes a qualityand a kind of wisdom. It is oneof the wisdoms of Buddha. Even

this fellow understood this partof this text; what we are talkingabout. This is not different fromDzogchen.

He goes on and after RA, whichis the understanding of real ex-perience, then there is the under-standing of our limit. There is notime or space. PA is about this.Then it is very interesting when hegoes on to explain PA. PAis a littletricky in the sutra of wisdom. Itsays that PAis the door to the in-sight that all dharmas have beenexpounded to the ultimate sense.For me how he gets the meaning

is incredible. He says, Try to saysomething about sensation to-tally out of the meaning, but ata certain point he says, If I lookdown at my body this is simply asensation of sight. If we are look-ing behind the mirror to see if

we see the object inside the mir-ror, we only find the mirror. Sosomehow he understands whatthe real meaning is. We all haveillusion. Somehow simply fromchanging the word from dharmato experience he gets a differentunderstanding. First of all thismeans that we are very muchconditioned by words. So when

we study Buddhism, like a pro-fessor, its enough to change tohave this little understanding,this knowledge, or one secondof wisdom that gets this connec-tion that dharma can also be ex-perience. Immediately this sutramakes totally difference sense.

This is what Rinpoche al-ways says. We dont have to beattached to words. We have togo beyond this vision of form;

words are form. Thats all. Thenthere is SA, for example. It is thedoor of the insight that decrees.The birth of any dharma and so

on; its about being reborn. Theimportant part is that he reflectsabout experience and discovery.Once we start thinking aboutthis experience or that experi-ence, my experience or yours,

we are already dividing up thesethings. Which means its not amatter of yours and mine. Its vi-sion. In general we have insightof vision, because these are alldoors, gates to understanding,these 5 letters. Why does this allcome? If I go to the text for sure Ido not find this written. He just

Dharma as ExperienceExcerpt from teaching at Tsegyalgar WestBaja California, MexicoRigbai Kujyug, The Six Vajra VersesNov 24, 2008

Yeshi Namkhai teaching in Baja, California, Mexico November 2008. Photo: P. Barry


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understands the sense of expe-rience. This means that the way

we learn, the way we deal withwords, with visions of karma, aretotally relative. It doesnt meanthat he did a fantastic study andhe found the real meaning of thissutra. It is not written in the su-tra that we should interpret it inthis way. Simply he had some un-

derstanding and understandingmanifests in this way. This is theway we manifest.

So when we say we shouldkeep the transmission pure itmeans from one side we have to

work with text. To be precise andnot inventing, not going aroundand saying that Dzogchen is thisand inventing something. Fromone side we take the text and theother the commentary and we

work precisely with this.

Transcribed and Editedby Naomi Zeitz

ing of life and death, values thatare a lot different from commonCatholic values. In Catholic values

you have different images. In theCatholic religion the metaphysi-cal is stressed, something out-side of yourself. In Buddhism it isa lot more the inner side. So you

work a lot more with your innervision. At this point, I integrateboth; I live respecting totally theCatholic religion. As a matter offact, the Dzogchen Communityrespects the Catholic religion,but we know we are interested in

this path and we continue withthis knowledge. I am not tryingto influence my children becauseit makes no sense and in the endthey will decide what they want.This teaching is more connected

with knowledge; you need to havethis knowledge to discover thisknowledge. It is not about believ-ing something or not. You chooseto believe and this is a totally dif-ferent approach. So for this rea-son I grew up with this attitudeand I do the same with my family.

S: What happened along yourpath that caused you to come out

and teach, like here in Baja?YN: Dreams are particular to thistransmission lineage. Of courseeveryone deals with dreams be-cause they are part of our lives;half of our life we spend sleep-ing. We cannot pretend to de-

velop our practice while we areworking or traveling, so of coursewe need to develop while we aresleeping. This is the main point,but besides this we can say when

we are dreaming we are in a statethat is not limited, so it is easierthat we may have some clarity andunderstanding of the future. I al-ready had dreams some time agoabout this place. But you cannotalways leave everything and go. If

you have a family then you have totake care of your family, your wife,

your children, and you try to do allthat is possible for both. You tryto take care. When I saw that time

was passing and the Communitywas growing a lot, I thought may-be I would try and help a little bit.This was what happened. It was anatural progression. That is themain point. And it is progress-ing in a way that it was thought offrom the beginning.

S: Is Dzogchen something spe-cial to this generation?YN: No, this teaching is very an-cient. But it is always revealeddifferently because we live intime and space and time changeevery time; we ourselves are dif-ferent and even the teacher is dif-ferent every time, but the essenceshould be the same. So tradition-ally we say when there is a rein-carnation, it is like liquid in thecup. When the cup breaks youtake the liquid and it goes in an-other cup, which is the body ofthe new teacher.

But it does not really fit withthe understanding of Dzogchen;Dzogchen doesnt work like this.It is not such a physical thing. Itmakes no sense that we are go-ing and checking [for reincarna-tions]. I was in Tibet in the sum-mer of 2007. I went to my monas-tery and there were some monks

who knew me in the previous lifeand so on and I recognized a lotof things from my previous life

there, but really I did not even tellthem because I thought it is notgood. You say that and then theystart to worship, and they start to

worship the object without un-derstanding the teaching. Theyhad also received teaching frommy father. It is much more im-portant that you understand theteaching than you attach to thisobject. Nothing changes if an ob-

ject is recognized, but somethingchanges if you understand whatis the meaning of this teaching.Then you discover it is your pathand you already follow this path.So a lot of things because obvi-ous and normal, because a lot ofpeople do some chanting, somemantra, and this mantra you rec-ognize and you start to chant and

you feel something special andthen people think, Oh that isincredible that I feel somethingspecial, but it is obvious if youspend all your life doing this atleast you should recognize some-thing if its your path. If you re-ally did this your whole life ofcourse you will recognize it. Butthen you dont give it too muchimportance; you try to under-stand in this moment, this life,

what you have.

S: It seems that teacher like youalways get groups who want toattach and be literal about yourteachings. How do you recon-cile that with what you are doingnow?

YN: This is the normal attitude ofpeople. An attitude of grouping,and being literal is a natural thing,so you have also this side. It is im-portant to understand the mean-ing and when you understandthe meaning you try to apply. Ofcourse you can always make a

>> continued from previous page

Interview with Yeshi Namkhai

by Susan Carol from Destino Los Cabos Magazinehttp://www.destinomagazines.com/index.html

Baja California, November 2008

mistake. No one is perfect. May-be you are perfect and you real-ize and you have enlightenment,but this probably happens at theend of you life, if you are lucky.Or maybe it takes many lives.This is what Buddha said. We tryto go into the essence, to the un-derstanding, and then, of course,people have different situations,different conditionssome taketwo minutes, some two years and

some two lives to understandsomething very simple.

S: How about the rabbis, minis-ters and priests. Do they accept

your teaching? Do you encounterresistance to your teaching?

YN: This kind of situation is veryhigh level. This is more a publicsituation, where you have differ-ent kinds of meetings. Of coursemy father did that. Already withinthe field of Tibetan Buddhism wehave this aspect and sometimesproblems. Tibetan Buddhism isdivided into four main schoolsand we dont support the idea ofcreating a school or belongingto a school. So we already are abit strange for them. Tradition-ally it has been thought that myfather belongs to the NyingmapaSchool. At this big ritual calledthe Kalachakra in Graz, Aus-tria, with His Holiness the DalaiLama they gave my father a placeof respect in the Nyingmapa sec-tion. But he said, Oh maybe Ihave problems with my kneesand he tried to go where all thepeople were sitting, but of coursein the end they could not acceptthat and prepared a chair and

everything. There is this idea ofrespect and the teacher must sithigher and so on, but he decidedto do things differently becausehe does not want to categorizedin a school, etc. We dont care,but other people care. If they seehe is sitting in the Nyingmapasection, they will think they haveto fight and struggle.

My father created a meetingfor Pope Paul the XI and His Ho-liness the Dalai Lama. He orga-nized all so that they could meet.He was the man that organizedalso for the Karmapa, another

important figure in Tibetan Bud-dhism. The Dalai Lama is head ofthe Gelugpas, the biggest school,and the Karmapa is the head ofthe Kagyupas. My father madepossible a connection betweenthe Vatican and the Tibetan tradi-tion many years ago.

S: So your father is the founder ofthis tradition?

YN: Yes, at least of this Dzogchen

Community. In Buddhism we saythere are three jewels: the Teach-er, the Teaching and the Commu-nity. I am part of this lineage. Be-fore, one of my fathers teachers

was his uncle, and I am a reincar-nation of this uncle.

S: When did you discover that?YN: Rinpoche knew this fromone of his dreams from the Long-sal cycle. He had this dream ofmeeting my mother and then I

was born and so on. Then oncehe sent out a Christmas postcard

with my picture saying HappyChristmas, and one of the mainleaders and teachers of the Sakya-pa School saw my photo and rec-ognized me as a reincarnationof my fathers uncle. That is partof a very famous lineage called

Jamyang Khyentse. It is a very an-cient lineage and one of the firstfive in Tibet. But then of coursesome are recognized becausethey really have something andsome are recognized because themonastery needs a guide, some-one to sit on the throne. Usually Idont talk very much about this.

S: What was it like growing up

with this knowledge?YN: Of course it is not easy be-cause you have all these peoplesaying, Oh I hope you come atleast one day before I die and Ican see you. It was like this inthe summer in Tibet and there

were these old men and womenwaiting to see me before theydied. Of course for them it is veryimportant.

S: How did you handle that?YN: You go there and make themhappy, of course. You dressTibetan, you do what they want;

Susan: In our newspaper we can-not go into too much depth aboutthe teachings, but I would like toknow something about you as ateacher who has come to Baja. Itis very intriguing to Mexicans andAmericans to know that this [theDzogchen Community] is goingon here. I wanted to ask, since

you are a business consultant,how did you get on this path thatfinally led you out into the worldto teach?

Yeshi Namkhai: It was always thisway; there has been no change

really. About how I experiencedchange in a more traditional way,to say that someone has thiskind of change [experience] likein the movies, when you startoff in a certain way, you have aclimax and everything changesand then you can connect your-self with this experience and yousuddenly have empathy and soon; it is not like this. When youhave something deep, it is alwaysdeep. Then there is the right mo-ment to do something and yousee that you have to do it and youdo it, otherwise you dont needto change anything. This is the

main point. But time is passingand the Dzogchen Community isquite widespread. We have 6000members around the world.

S: Chgyal Namkhai Norbu isyour father. Were you raised un-der this umbrella of teaching andthe Tibetan way of life? Was itpervasive in your home?

YN: Well, no, but of course if yourfather is Tibetan you will knowsomething about Tibetan culture.I lived mostly as a normal Italian.Then when it was the moment,I chose the way I preferred. So Idid both. I grew up with certain

values connected to the Asiantradition; values connected withfriendship, with understand-

Yeshi Namkhai teaching in Moscow. Photo: I. Shakov


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at least before they die so they diehappily. This doesnt mean theyreally understand somethingabout this teaching, but at least

you make them happy. Of coursewhen you realize and understand

this when you are 20 years old,it is not easy to accept. Maybe

when you are 30 and you have afamily, maybe you can accept ita bit more easily. You are moreready to do something like this.For sure I did not go when I was

younger, I was not ready to dosomething like this, to face thiskind of situation.

S: So is there are teachers trainedwith you who lead the Communi-ty, or do people only gather when

you are around or how do theyget together?

YN: Really we dont have this

precise idea of teachers. Somegroups have this kind of structurebut this is more Lamaistic. In thiscase someone is called Lama,and that person has intellectualknowledge. You are working and

you have an exam and when youpass this exam you are allowed toteach. We try to see if there is aclear sign and then when thingsneed to manifest they manifest bythemselves. We do have a coursecalled Santa Maha Sangha thatis a typical Buddhist course ofstudy, because if something isnot clear then at least it is clear

what you need to say. You can fol-

low a book and there are somestudy texts.

My father is a very famousresearcher, and besides all thebooks he has written, he is oneof the most famous researchersof Tibetan history and culture inthe world. He is the most famousperson in the world after His Ho-liness the Dalai Lama regardingTibetan Culture. He has writtenthe most about the source of Ti-betan culture. Most people thinkit comes from Chinese culture,but this is not true. It is a lot moreancient. He wrote a lot, he taughta lot about it and then in the endhis version was realized as themost realistic. In the beginning

when he came to the west no onebelieved him. Slowly, he becamefamous as a researcher and what-ever he does he uses a scientificapproach. Not really like others,

who just tell some stories.Now he is working on a very

famous text called the Dra Thal-gyur. This text, the Dra Thalgyur,is the most ancient text for Dzog-chen teaching. There are somecommentaries. This text is diffi-cult to read, it is even for a Tibet-an to understand the meaning.

So he collected all the commen-taries he could find, as well aswriting his own. He is not sayingthese are his ideas, but he is ex-plaining the text in general. Forexample, in the book he is writ-ing now, he uses different colorsindicating which commentary itis. For example, if you are talk-ing about the commentary of thedirect students of Buddha, likeVairocana, then my father indi-cates Vairocanas commentary

with the color red. Then the oth-er commentaries are in other col-ors and he adds his commentary

in black because he wants to bevery humble and with his com-mentary he says generally maybethis text means this or that. He isteaching like this and he teachesa lot from these kinds of texts via

web casts.So it can be interesting for

anyone who is interested inDzogchen. The idea is we dontclose and we dont say this is myDzogchen. It is a very ancienttradition and we can say the wayRinpoche [my father] receivedunderstanding, is very typical ofthe Dzogchen Community Long-sal terma. So the way he receivesunderstanding is typical, but wenever say this is my Dzogchen,because if you go around on theInternet you find everyone istalking about Dzogchen now.Rinpoche was the only and the

first in the west to talk aboutDzogchen. Also his lineage is to-tally connected with Dzogchenand Rinpoche is also recognizedas the emanation, which meansthe mind of and not really thebody of, an ancient teacher in Ti-bet called Adzom Drugpa. If youdo research you will discover thatthis teacher was not monastic. Heused a system of teaching and liv-ing together because Dzogchenteaching has the characteristicthat if the teaching does not fit tothe reality [daily life] somethingis wrong. If it reveals in time andspace, it has to reveal perfectly, fit

perfectly.The first place that Adzom

Drugpa organized was calledGar, which in Tibetan meansplace. He meant a place where

you can develop knowledge. Inthe same way, Rinpoche createdthe Dzogchen Community. Atthe end, it also fits today. But atthat time it was something crazy.Now it is normal.

For example, one of the stu-dents Adzom Drugpa accepted

when she was running awayfrom Chinese persecution wasRinpoches grandmother. Shehad no idea of receiving teach-ings, absolutely no idea. She hada totally different kind of life,she was totally into the worldof money, married to one of therichest Tibetans in the region andshe really didnt care about theteaching. When she was runningaway from the Chinese and shecouldnt find any place to hide.She had help from one familyand then she met Adzom Drug-pas son and she received a lot ofteachings. After a while this littlechild came out and she recog-nized that he was an emanationof her teacher, Adzom Drugpa.

Still now when Rinpoche is giv-ing a certain Tara practice - thereis one form of Tara that is yellow,

very common in Buddhist tradi-tion for money and wealth, andcalled the Odser Chenma mani-festation, which is a Tara with asun at the back and so on heis giving instruction he receivedfrom his grandmother. Hisgrandmother was very humble,but she wrote something abouther experiences with her teacherand during instruction. She haddreams about this manifesta-tion of Tara. Rinpoche has done

this version of the practice he re-ceived from his grandmother forhis whole life. His grandmother

was a very good practitioner.Rinpoche discovered this textand he had a lot of dreams that he

wrote down. So today when wedo Odzer Chenma practice, wedo this version precisely. This issomehow unique. Everyone doesTara practice. It is very common.When you dont know what to do,

you do Tara, they say in the Tibet-an tradition. But one of things is

that we try and be correct in thelineage because it means thereis direct contact and somethingmeaningful.

S: You were saying in the teach-ing about how the body comesand goes but the mind stays intact. Is that how you put it? Howdo you put words around whatthe mind is?

YN: Mind is more the access tounderstanding. There is not re-ally an idea of something out-side. There is just an illusion thatthere is something outside in thereal sense. We have this illusionbecause we do not understand

vision. We have body and imme-diately we believe in the sensa-tion of body, but it doesnt mean

when we have feelings and ideasthat these feelings and ideas arereal. For example, for us whenour husband or wife has a rela-tion we feel bad. This feeling badcan also create cancer for exam-ple. How many people have thisproblem? But this is the same re-ality as touching your body in theend. This means it is vision onlyand if it is vision there is no ideaof something. Its mind. First you

recognize mind, what kind of na-ture it has. Then maybe you candiscover there is something else.Maybe you discover something soextraordinary that maybe today itis better not to think. This is what

we say is kept secret. All this vi-sionary area of this tradition says,Oh the dimension may not onlybe one, there are six main dimen-sions with eight families and allthese that are presented are terri-ble. Just imagine something thatis different from our conception.For some beings it is normal toeat each other. Or there are beings

that do not have certain kinds oflimits. For us it is totally differentat this point. We feel fear. It eas-ier for us to think of somethingsimilar to how we are. So if thereis mind, it is a general conscious-ness and this is very easy to think.But we dont know if this is true.First we have to understand howis mind, what is the nature ofmind, and then maybe we candiscover something more. This isthe main point.

This view is not so different

from most cultures. Every cultureis looking for something. Thereare a lot of cultures that also usesubstances to discover conscious-ness and understanding, like theshamanic approach and so on.The point is if you are still in thelimitation of what you see, youdiscover only what you see. If youunderstand this is only one of thepossibilities and you discover na-ture of mind, then you probablydiscover all. Its by chance thatshamanism discovered this sideand in the other part of the worldsomeone discovered somethingelse, but as they are limited intheir vision they only understandthis. If you see a bottle like this

you think a bottle is only like this.You cannot recognize the natureof bottle. The bottle contains liq-uid but if you are into the natureof this object, even if the bottle isbigger or smaller, you can under-stand it can contain liquid.

S: Would you say the only way tounderstand these concepts is tostudy other concepts? So maybe

you can see there is a similarity?YN: In our normal way it is alittle like this. We observe, also

through a scientific method, andthen through observation wecan define a law. We can say thebottle is like this. It is something

you can immediately understandwhen you are traveling. In thisplace Coca Cola is made like this,in another country it is not inplastic but in glass, and then youdiscover that Coca Cola is differ-ent in different places; but until

you travel you do not discoverthat. I dont even speak aboutmind. Even Coca Cola can be dif-ferent. Something so commonand something for which there

is publicity all the time, even thisyou can discover this is different.Then you discover it has a differ-ent nature, you have to go intothe nature of what you are drink-ing instead of just looking at thebottle, and like this maybe youdiscover.

S: When you were in the businessworld, which is very contrary towhat we are studying with theDzogchen teaching, how did youkeep yourself balanced?

YN: I have to say this is totallywrong. I mean all people thinklike this. I had a very fast careerbecause I had a totally differentapproach to business. I becamethe youngest manager in mycompany and my company is abig international company. Ithas something like seventy-fourdifferent companies all over the

world. It is huge and it is basedin the northeast of Italy. My sec-tion worked with ITsystems, in-formation technology, and I wasa very young manager because Ihad a totally different approachto the business. I really did not

work with the idea of makingmore profit, but with the idea ofbalancing all the main aspects.When you have a company to-day you discover the companiesthat work better are the ones thathave correct balance betweenprofit, customers, internal activi-ties, knowledge and the growingof knowledge. So people have tofeel good in their company. Youdont make people happy withmoney. You make people happy

when they feel fine and are satis-fied with their job and also fromthe other side, when they learn

something. We spend most ofour time working and if we dontlearn anything it becomes verydifficult to work. So I alwaysuse this modern and holistic ap-proach.

S: Not having the profit concept,did you get the organization tomove that way and did they seethe benefit?

YN: Also if you sell only for prof-it, the first time you may sell andthe second time you wont sellanything. Anyway you need some


Earth Ox Year

for my vajra brothers & sisters

Hail, to the herd instinct moving us

in unison through winters thick and thinover razors edge between this or that crest.One-pointed focus tames brute forceof cloven hoofs to the grindstone, headsbowed intently with nostrils flared our horns poised to strike the bullwork of obstaclesshored up against realization or imagined enemies.For, we are the earth-movers,who graze with ease among sticks and stoneswhere nothing growsexcept a sweet determinationto succeed!.

Best Wishes to all this coming year,Jacqueline Gens

Brattleboro, Vermont,USA


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6



intimacy between customer andsupplier. In the modern world

you have to work like this andthen it is more about collabora-tion, in the end. And I was al-

ways into building the relationof collaboration. Maybe today

you dont make the profit, but af-ter two years you notice that still

you have a relation, and relationmeans we are both surviving. Youcant make money all the time.Sometimes it is more about sur-

viving. Also when you see yourcompany instead of being twentypeople, it becomes two hundredpeople. This is fine. Somehow youhelp two hundred families. Yougave jobs to two hundred people.This is a very common approach.Harvard Business School callsthis system a balanced scorecard.

This is a holistic approach. InItaly it is not very common, not

very diffused, so I was a little bitin the group of people applyinga more modern approach andtechnology. Basically I apply thebasic approach from the teach-ing. They fit perfectly. I just said,Ah, this comes from the HarvardBusiness School and it works likethis because someone under-stood in the end we cannot onlymake profit. We have to take careof people. So they invented thissystem and it works. In the USit

works perfectly. It also workedin Europe. I was lucky because

my boss was interested in work-ing with the idea of culture, notreally with profit.

Also I was invited to do strat-egy with companies, not only fortechnical issues, like how to makethis company alive. Maybe a com-pany was on the market and nowit has problems. Of course I wasin a more technical area, but any-

way, you have to attend a meeting.You arrive at the strategy meetingand there is the president of thecompany and the owner, mostlythe owners in the European real-ity, and they look at you and say,And your boss, when is he com-ing? No really its me, you say.And then they start to look verybadly at you. They are thinking,This very young man, what doeshe want? Anyway I started to

work and after one hour I say yes,but I am married and I have twochildren and they say, Ah, thisis already something. They rec-ognize at least you have some lifeexperience. Then they ask where

you come from and they realizethat you are from a mixed cultureand that is good and then theynotice that maybe you drive veryfar to get there, and you can man-

age your family, drive around foryour work, all this is good. Thenthey start to understand that youare not so stupid. After that, inthe end, they start to trust a little.The point is at the end they ask,

what is the difference betweenyou and others because you aredoing better then they are. Theycould not get what was differ-ent. Oh, maybe I am Buddhist,that is why. Oh, they say, Iam interested in that too. Andthen I discover all are interested.Because they understand there isan approach that is connected tohuman vision. Not only to wor-shipping something. It is moreactive. They recognize that andthey say, Oh this is good, I am

very interested.

S: Do you think people under-

stand that Buddhism is a way oflife and not a doctrine?

YN: It depends. Some understandand some not.

S: So you are just leaving yourcorporate business life and aregoing to do teaching full time?

YN: I do what is needed really. Idont think I will leave or not. IfI want to go back to work I haveplenty of offers. I dont haveproblems in that area. The mainpoint is I do what is needed now.

S: You are the main teacher otherthan your father?

YN: No, no. My father is theteacher. I am only helping. It isdifferent. I am not going aroundsaying I am a teacher, absolutelynot. If you start doing this thenthe questions arise, like whereare you, what are you doing, whatis your lineage, what are yourplans for the future, what is yourstrategy. I am not at all interestedin this. I try to do something use-ful if I see there is some need. Ifthere is not anymore need I canlive perfectly doing somethingelse because it is easier. For sureit is easier to work than teach,

without a doubt.

S: Why is that and what is easier?YN: Because when you are teach-ing you are miserable. This is themain point. At least on this pathit works like this. You need to un-derstand what the real problemis, what the nature of the prob-lem is. How can you understandthe nature of the problem with-out having experience? Someonetells you, Oh I have this prob-lem, I lost my parents, I have thisproblem with my wife, my hus-band, all this attachment, howcan you understand this? It is

not only that you read a book andyou are in a nice place and you domeditation; you need to have ex-perience. And when the teachingis manifesting you have experi-ence anyway. So its not easy. Youare supposed to overcome this,no? To show how you can over-come. So you need experience.

S: I never heard a teacher say thatbefore but it probably is more dif-ficult to be a teacher than to live

life. I dont think regular peoplewould think that.YN: Its not easy. Imagine if youhave four or four thousand stu-dents. How many things would

you need to know? There arethings that are universal. Thereare things that are absolute andrelative and you need to be ableto help on both sides. We have adualistic vision. Its not enough

you say, Oh its like this, its per-fect, but if I dont say the right

word for you in this moment, youdont get what I am saying. Wecommunicate through languageand words; words are limited.Experience is beyond words. Ex-perience is something you haveto try yourself. It is not that sim-ple. You cannot be too young ornot have life experience. If yourcommunity is made of normal

working people, you also need tohave this experience. That is ourteacher, our founder, he is not

working now because he retired,but he worked all his life. Thereare not many teachers like my fa-ther. He worked all his life andhad so much success. How can

you teach if you dont know whatmodern life is? You come from

the cave and stay there in yourgolden temple and what do youknow? Nothing. You dress in Ti-betan or Hindu style and you gothere and they make some musicand what do you know?

S: So you feel you have to takecare of the Dzogchen Commu-nity at this point?

YN: Of course if I say I recognizeThe Three Jewels, that does notmean I only recognize the Teach-

er. I have to take care of each oneof the three aspects. If I see thathere there are a few people whoneed help, I try to come here. Be-fore there were two thousand sixhundred people in Russia andthere had not been retreats for

years until I went there. They hadproblems to organize retreats.Russia is not an easy country.Russia is not easy for permission,and they are against all religiousorganizations. Now we are try-ing to organize. You see, for ex-ample, there are one thousandpeople waiting in Russia and youcannot go because you do nothave a visa. So I went there to see

what the possibilities are and inthe end we went to this Buddhiststate in Russia. This is the firsttime we had something like thatand I was very happy. When wehad this meeting with the presi-dent of Kalmykia, the presidentsaid he was very impressed be-cause he never saw a lama work-ing. Rinpoche said, Yes imag-ine, for many years people werecriticizing me because I drove acar, imagine if they knew I was

working and using a laptop online, instead of writing by hand

in Tibetan. It is like this. For usit is normal. We integrate intolife. For others it is better to dressa certain way and have a certaindistance. Our path is connected

with the way of integration, sowe have to have this experienceof modern life.

So I decided I would like tohave important experiences inmy life, not just work 95 anddo nothing, have no responsibil-ity and so on. So as soon as I had

the possibility I started to run asfast as possible because I thoughtmaybe one day I have to help, atleast I want to know what lifeis. Its like if someone is saying,Oh, I dont like communism orcapitalism, I had friends whosaid, Oh these people are rich

with their nice cars, but I dontlike these people, they are hor-rible, and I said, Oh yes, I hadthis nice car and it is better todrive a nice car. It is up to youto understand the nature of thesethings. It is obvious that to livemore comfortably is better, andthen you dont know if you willalways this possibility, so when

you have, to try to enjoy. You en-joy without thinking and whenyou have it.

S: Well we have come to the end.Thank you for graciously sharing

your time and it will be nice toshare this with our readers.

Transcribed by Naomi ZeitzEdited by Naomi Zeitz & Liz Granger

went on with an interesting videoof Asia Onlus.

Our retreat continued the nextday, starting with Guruyoga of Aand Song of Vajra. Namkhai Nor-bu Rinpoche stressed the impor-tance of reciting it once and againin order to discover through it,our true nature. Also, the connec-tion and interest that practitio-ners must have in relation to theTeachings was manifested when

Master asked: Which is the firstcapacity, most important for fol-lowing Dzogchen Teaching? Re-ply: Your participation.

Rinpoches work never ends. Hecommented that it took him sev-eral years, working day and nightto copy and revise a commentaryof the Dra Thalgyur Tantra, untilit was perfect (and he is still re-

vising it). And, what do we workfor? We work in order to discoverour true Nature. In doing so, we

discover the whole universe in itstotalitywhen you discover one,

you discover all quoted our Jewelof Space on the fourth day of theretreat. Also, he asked us to trainin not following our thoughts,since that is the origin of all ourtroubles. Only in the state of In-stant Presence we will be beyondall mental conditioning, withoutchanging anything. In this way, itis mind that must obey us and notthe other way around. Therefore,

when we ask ourselves who am

I we must answer: I am my po-tentiality, my instant presence.That day ended with a movingand inspiring video of the story ofNamgyalgar. In it, Rinpoche saideverything is possible. Maybe alittle complicated, but possible,a quote we should have always inmind. Later, we could enjoy twofunny anecdotes of the Master,related to the moment of sing-ing Song of Vajra and its sum-moning power in cows and el-ephants!

>> Titlescontinued from page 1 And speaking about animals,metaphorically speaking, Dzog-chen practitioners correspondto eagle category according toa Semde text. Namkhai NorbuRinpoche said at the beginningof the fifth day of the retreat thata small eagle is perfect while it isinside the egg and when it comesout it is ready to fly. In the same

way, the progress of practitionersis very fast, which is different toother paths of liberation. So, in


Photo: S. Carol



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NewsNews

Rinpoches return to Aus-tralia after a six-year ab-sence was marked by cel-

ebrations across the whole coun-try. In a timely coincidence Aus-tralia Day was in full swing anational holiday which celebratesthe arrival of the first fleet of Eng-lish convicts on 26 January 1788.Indigenous Australians call thisday Invasion Day as it marks thebeginning of the destruction ofthe nomadic tribes, which haveinhabited this continent for over10,000 years. Fittingly that eve-ning just below Rinpoches birds

nest apartment looking out overDarling Harbour, a public con-cert with Indigenous songs anddances was projected on a largescreen hanging over the water.At 9 oclock outside Rinpoches

window, a huge fireworks displaylit up the sky for fifteen minutes

with Fabio recording on videofrom the living room. The SydneyGakyil couldnt have planned abetter welcome.

On the Friday night in agrand hall at the Masonic Cen-tre Rinpoche gave his public talkto an attentive crowd. Those ofus who havent seen our Master

since 2003 stood pinching our-selves and hugging old friends.Rinpoches teaching was strongand powerful, covering the ba-sics of the Four Noble Truths,the difference between Sutra,Vajrayana and Dzogchen and giv-ing simple techniques for prac-tice in daily life, like making acommitment to simply be pres-ent for one or two hours a day.He also remarked that those whocome to the Dzogchen teach-ings most certainly have a previ-ous connection with Dzogchen.Many of us I know, who have ar-rived at Dzogchen by accidentor strange coincidence share anunmistakeable feeling of hav-ing arrived home. Of course inSydney as in other places, manyfollow the Master fervently thendrift away into other parts oftheir lives. Some lucky ones how-ever find that not only the teach-ings but the teacher arrives rightback on their doorstep. On thisoccasion the hotel concierge

where Rinpoche was staying

Australia CelebratesThe Masters ReturnJan Cornall

happened to be an old student ofRinpoches who was very activein the Sydney community in the90s. One day he woke up to findnot only his Master staying in hishotel but he was reunited withVajra brothers and sisters he hasbeen sorely missing in his life. Itis strange how far away from oneanother we can sometimes feel,only to find we are just living inthe next suburb.

After the talk as the public wenton their way with Rinpochessstrong words and presence im-printed in their minds, a bunch

of old Sangha friends ended upin China Town eating and drink-ing and remembering old times.Mark Farrington (just in fromLondon), Sydney/ Canberra com-munity members and organisers:Tony, Twii, Heather, Trevor, Meg,and Jonas (concierge) Alathea,Pamela, myself and others hadmuch catching up to do somuch can happen in six years! .

Next day at the Sydney Univer-sity Village our weekend retreatbegan. Rinpoche arrived and gotstraight into explaining how wecan apply the Dzogchen teach-ings, expanding on the introduc-

tion he had given the previousevening and emphasising theimportance of Guru Yoga. Notfar into the teaching I wrote inmy notes in capitals HOW YOUCAN REALISE? APPLY WHAT THE

TEACHER HAS TAUGHT!The importance of this rhe-

torical question is not lost on meand I reflected on what a joy andprivilege it is to be reminded per-sonally by Rinpoche to apply thepractices he so tirelessly teachesus year after year. Each time youhear these reminders it seemsthere is a deepening, as if you arehearing it for the first time or in adifferent way to before. Some ofus noted afterwards Rinpocheis teaching exactly what we wantto hear! How did he know this

was my question? Answer: HEKNOWS!

After lunch Elise Stuchburyexplained the Short Thun to new-comers and following a deliciousafternoon tea spoke about theinternational community, whileTony Laurent showed clips from

the Dzogchen Community videojournal Buriatia, Merigar, Mar-garita Is, Rinpoches travels toTibet in 1997, and more. Alsoplaying at the bookshop was thelong awaited video history ofNamgyalgar beautifully woventogether by Graeme Horner andLynn Geary. It shows archivalfootage of Rinpoches teachingsand travels to Australia from themid eighties, the buying of theland and the development of the

gar until 2003.On Sunday morning Rinpoche

explained more about daily prac-tice. He said, We think whensomeone does one hour of prac-tice per day that is very good but

what about the other twenty-three hours? We must integratetwenty-four hours a day by goinginto the essence. Here I wrotein capitals: OUR LIFE BECOMESPRACTICE!

He also said Try to learn theessence of the teaching, not go-ing after intellectual study butusing what we learn. The mostimportant is Guru Yoga. Wakeup with Guru yoga, go to sleep

with Guru Yoga. Integrate thefour moments of sitting, stand-ing, sleeping and eating, then wehave possibility for realisation.

He explained also in a simpleway to do practice of the nightand a twenty-four hour dark re-treat. Ive read and tried manytimes to do the practice of thenight bringing the A up fromthe heart to the throat and so on.

This time Rinpoche said, As yougo to sleep, rest in the presenceof A. Doh! I got it! I tried it. I hada dream, not profound, not lucid,but an experience of bliss. An ex-perience, aha, thats something!I will try again tonight and thenext and the next. And this timeI wont give up and say Oh,but it doesnt work for me. I willcontinue until it does!

At the end of the teaching aswe sang the Song of Vajra I re-

membered many other times andplaces I had sung this wonderfulsong. Most recently at the funeralof Carmel Lennon, another longtime practitioner we hadnt seenfor many years. She was there inKyneton in 1989 when we stoodsinging around Rinpoche as hesat in a small cave at HangingRock. I remember singing it atmidnight in the gonpa at Nam-gyalgar at the Millennium NewYear when the first web cast wentout to the world community. Andin 1990 in the smoke filled medi-cine room at Merigar just beforeThe Dalai Lama visited. At WatBudhha Dharma in the wild daysof endless chod practice aroundblazing bonfires and long GuruDragpur sessions when Rinpoche

was recovering from his cancer.And now we were singing togeth-er again as if it was yesterday.

Lucky for us, Rinpoche is inAustralia for three months withseveral retreats planned. There

will be a lot of reminiscing andremembering going on. When

some one important returns intoyour life it is easy to become re-flective, maybe even nostalgic and

yet when the master arrives againin person every thing wakes up inhis presence. Colours are more

vibrant, sounds more subtle,taste more exquisite everythingcomes into an intense focus. You

wonder where you have been allthis time, what have you been do-ing with your life, how often you

were present and how much of it

you spent distracted, going aftergoals and striving after achieve-ments you realise in the end willhave no lasting value.

Without the teacher to remindme I sometimes forget and yetit seems the circumstances oflife always bring me back to thepractice. When love doesnt workout, I come back to the practice,

when I get a bad review I remem-ber the practice, when success

just doesnt have the same zingit once had, I come back to thepractice. In reality the Master isalways present in the practice.But when the Master is in resi-dence at our gar we come backto the practice big time, and werelish the precious moments wehave with him. We give thankshe is with us again and we hope

we can continue to go ahead in apositive and constructive way.

We go ahead, Rinpoche saidas we were taking the hotel lift tothe car that would take him onthe long drive to Namgyalgar.We go ahead.

Rinpoches arrival in Sydney. Photo: P. Kapp

Dzogchen teachings the prin-ciple of Kadag and Lhundrub isstressed since the beginning: themain point of the teaching is thediscovery of our true nature, rath-er than accumulation of meritsor purifying. Naturally, Rinpochesaid that does not mean these lat-ter are not important or neces-sary, but rather, relative. Equally,a Dzogchen practitioner mustnot be interested in building ar-tificial compassion. Being in thestate of Guruyoga is at the sametime supreme purification andtrue compassion.

The next morning two beautiful

rainbows crowned the sky, anomen of the powerful teachingswe were about to receive that day.The four Chogzhag were the mainsubject of the sixth day of the re-treat and, maybe, the hardest tounderstand. They represent thecondition of Dharmata. The firstthree Chogzhags are because wehave three existences, we need torelax body, speech and mind, allthree. The last one is related to vi-sions: When you are in your realnature, visions good or bad, thereare no any differences, both are

visions visions are ornaments

of the primordial state, visions

are not problem, there is no dif-ference between pure vision andimpure vision, problem is ourattachment, our attachment isin ourselves, not outside Lat-er, after sunset we shared a niceNew Year dinner with all practi-tioners and we had the chance toparticipate in an auction to raisefunds for Tashigar South. It was a

very exciting moment we sharedwith Rinpoche who delighted uswith his calligraphy. We received2009 toasting and very happy,

with folk songs typical of somecountries and dancing until ear-

ly hours. I have to mention that

auction collected an importantamount of money to cover themany needs of the Gar. Finally,during the closing of the retreaton the first day of the New Year,the advices for daily life fromthe Master, as well as the lungsfor different practices, arrived asinvaluable tools to manage ourrelative condition and advancein a practical way toward realiza-tion. In order to celebrate the endof these Teachings we did a Me-dium Ganapuja, followed imme-diately by a lottery, full of fun andsurprises.

The assembly of all these experi-

ences in the brief time of a weekreaffirms me in considering thatthe best way to end a year andstart a new one is a retreat withRinpoche and the Vajra brothersand sisters. Infinite thanks, pre-cious Master, for always trying tomake us open our eyes and seeour real condition!PS. By the way, the title of this re-treat was Dzogchen TregchdTeaching of Jigmed Lingpa fromthe instruction of Yeshe Lama.

Translation: Regina Robles



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December 2008: almost 10months after the tragicevents in Lhasa, we re-

turned to the Tibetan autono-mous Region and Amdo.

The main aims of the missionwere to meet the ASIAstaff Ti-betan and ex-patriot who had

remained there during this ex-tremely difficult period, monitorthe projects that were underway,

verify new projects to present todonors for 2009 and verify the fu-ture of ASIAs projects in China

with the authorities.The impact on Lhasa is very

sad to see.In recent years the city has suf-

fered more drastic moderniza-tion and destruction. Old Tibetanhouses have been destroyed andtheir place taken by buildingsin modern Chinese style. Thestrongest impression was to seeLhasa completely under military

control. Soldiers, roadblocks,soldiers posted on the roofs, ar-moured cars in the heart of thesacred city are something diffi-cult to get used to.

The hotels and restaurantsare empty and there are very fewChinese and Western tourists.Discontent, fear and frustration

were the feelings that we met ev-ery day when meeting old friendsor walking in the streets.

In Lhasa we started up athree-year health project jointly

financed by the European Union.The project will provide threeyear training for medical stafffrom Panam County in Shigatseprefecture.

The fact that we obtained au-thorization for our expatriatestaff and for starting up activitiesfor this important project meanta great success at this particulartime in which most internationalorganizations have been forcedto leave the country.

In Chamdo prefecture in theTibetan Autonomous Region,

we also restarted the activities

ASIAs projects in Tibet:Perspectives for 2009Andrea DellAngeloDirector of ASIAOnlus

of the health project financed bythe Ministry of Foreign Affairs,

which had been suspended sinceMay because of the disorders thattook place in Lhasa and in all theareas inhabited by the Tibetanminority. The local authoritieshad refused to renew the permits

for our staff, which had had to re-turn to Italy. Once we were in Lha-sa we managed to obtain authori-zation for them and the medicalcoordinator arrived in Chamdoon December 1st to start up ac-tivities again involving trainingand furnishing equipment to theclinics of the district and to the

villages in the county.Unfortunately due to the great

tensions that continue to existin all regions and to the new re-pressive measures of the Chinesegovernment, we were not ableto monitor some of the ongo-ing projects in the eastern areas

of the Tibetan Autonomous Re-gion.

Leaving Lhasa we went to Xin-ing where one of the most impor-tant seats of ASIAis located andstarted our mission to Amdo.

We left for Dongche whereASIA has built a primary andmiddle school, a Tibetan medi-

cine clinic and, in 2008, the firstBonpo study and practice collegein Hainan prefecture. The col-lege was completed in Septemberand, thanks to the contribution

of the Dutch Embassy,ASIA

hasconstructed a building with 14rooms for 72 students, one with12 rooms for the teachers andolder students and another with6 classrooms for courses which

will last nine years and will cov-er subjects ranging from gram-mar to astrology and medicine,study of the Sutras, Tantras andDzogchen.

All the buildings have beenconstructed using techniquesthat is energy saving and thatmake use of bio-architecture;

with solar walls which accu-

mulate heat in order to heat therooms and the classrooms.

At the moment there are 70students and several teachers,two who come from Lopon Ten-zin Namdaks college in Nepal.

After checking all the workwe prepared the second phase ofthe project which we hope to beable to complete during 2009 tobuild the kitchen, refectory, of-fices and a separate building with9 rooms to be used for practic-ing the most esoteric teachingslinked to Dzogchen.

We collected all the documen-tation in order to start up a dis-tance support project for all thestudents at the college who willattend the study and practicecourses for nine years.

The scholastic perspectives ofthe village, however, are very dif-ficult. As soon as we got to theschool we discovered that thegovernment authorities intendedto close the Dongche School the first school built by ASIAandinaugurated by Namkhai NorbuRinpoche in 1997.

In recent months, in Hainanprefecture the government has

drawn up and is putting intooperation a new policy for ed-ucating the Tibetan minoritycalled the Combining Educa-tion Policy. This reform plans toeliminate all the Tibetan villageschools and to group all the stu-dents from the primary, middleand secondary schools in a smallnumber of schools. The prima-ry schools will be concentratedat the district level, the middleschools at the county level andthe secondary schools in the pre-fecture capitals. The schools willbe large barracks with 2000/3000students, housed in enormousmodern buildings devoid of anytype of historical, cultural or en-

vironmental context.The aim, so they say, is to give

equal opportunities to all stu-dents and to improve the qualityof education. But actually, the re-sults will be to bring up the newgenerations far from their cultur-al and family surroundings. It isunthinkable that the culture andtraditions of a people such as theTibetan people can be transmit-ted and preserved only throughscholastic teaching. The cultureof a people is transmitted from

the first days of life by living inones own cultural ambient, ob-serving, learning and experienc-ing ones own customs and tradi-tions handed down in the courseof centuries, from generation togeneration.

Of course we tried to get themto change the decisions madeabout Dongche. After numerousmeetings with the authorities ofthe county they decided that theDongche School would not beclosed and would remain a pri-mary school. The middle schoolstudents will be transferred to the

county school. We tried to con-vince them to leave the Dongchemiddle school, too, but up tonow we havent succeeded andmeetings and negotiations arestill under way.

It is important to remember,for example, that this year one

of the Tibetan students fromDongche who has followed allthe courses from the nurseryup to the middle school at thisschool and then attended sec-ondary school at Gonghe, withdistance support through ASIA,

won first prize as the best studentin the whole of Qinghai provinceand has been admitted to the uni-

versity of Peking. This student isnot the only one to have obtainedexcellent results and many stu-dents from Dongche have ob-tained brilliant results thanks tothe training courses organizedby ASIA.This is proof that thesetypes of schools work and guar-antee a modern education in arural environment and are ac-cessible to all students whetherfrom farming families or nomad-ic ones.

Then we went on to Tongdewhere ASIA has been workingfor several years with the Nying-mapa monastery of Sangkhri topublish all the texts used at thestudy colleges of this school.The first phase of this project

was concluded at the end of 2007with the publication of 3000 setsof twenty volumes each, for a to-

tal of 60,000 volumes which weredistributed to students from theNyingmapa colleges in Qinghaiand Sichuan.

Seeing the success of this ini-tiative and the requests comingfrom all the regions in Chinainhabited by Tibetans, a secondphase of the project for the pub-lication of 12,000 sets for a to-tal of 240,000 volumes was pre-sented to the Dutch embassy andfinanced in May 2008. Unfor-tunately, up to now, we had notmanaged to start up the projectagain and finally in December af-

ter having gathered together of-fers and estimates, we finalizedthe contract with a printing pressin Tienjin for the publication ofthe entire 240,000 volumes. Theprinting work should be finishedby June 2009 and then the texts

will be distributed to 160 Nying-

mapa colleges in Sichuan, Qing-hai, Gansu and Tar.

At the same time, we veri-fied the start of a second project

with Sangkhri monastery, againfinanced by the Dutch Embassy,

which plans to construct a build-ing with 10 classrooms for cours-es and 12 rooms to accommodatethe 300 students who are regis-tered at Sangkhri College. Eventhis project that should have start-ed in May 2008 had been blockedup to December and finally nowafter various meetings and afterhaving prepared the new archi-tectural designs is in the phase ofstarting and should be complet-ed by December 2009.

Another very important proj-ect is the clinic of Ane Kandroma,a famous lady doctor and Master

who lives near Lake Kokonor.Here, several years ago, ASIAbuilt a traditional clinic special-izing in medicinal baths. SinceAne Kandroma was very wellknown in this area, the numberof patients immediately beganto grow and required enlargingthe clinic and accommodationfor the health staff. The secondphase of the project was pre-

sented to donors and financedin May 2008. Unfortunately thelocal government decided thatall the buildings near the lakehad to be destroyed. We do notknow when and we do not knowif owners who will be expropri-ated will receive indemnity. Dueto this uncertain situation, thesecond phase of the project wasnot started and through meet-ings and discussions ASIA hasbeen trying to obtain permissionfrom the government to rebuildthe clinic in another area and to

Singkhri.

Derge school.


SIASIA


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9

Khamdogar ProjectUpdate

History

Khamdogar is an ancientcommunity of practitio-ners founded by Ring-

dzin Changchub Dorje, the mas-ter of Chgyal Namkhai NorbuRinpoche, in the early 1900s.

Ringdzin Changcub Dorje, aDzogchen master and a famousTerton (discoverer of treasures)lived in this place with his family

working as a doctor and trans-mitted his Teachings in a com-pletely informal manner withoutcreating monasteries or religiousstructures. Over the years monksand lay people came togetheraround him in order to receive

his Teachings and practice, cre-ating a lay community to whicheach person contributed his orher work.

Near Khamdogar, in an areacalled Dedrol, there is a cave in

which Atha Lhamo, the daughterof Master Changchub Dorje, livedand practiced. After a long periodof inactivity due to the CulturalRevolution, the nuns have man-aged to build a small monasteryand take up their spiritual activi-ties again. At the moment there

are 66 nuns who live in retreatfor long periods without contact

with the outer world.At present, because of the dif-

ficult situation in Tibet, the en-tire complex of Khamdogar is in

ruins and the local people live inconditions of extreme poverty.

Concerned about this situa-tion, Chgyal Namkhai NorbuRinpoche asked Tsegyalgar Eastand ASIAto help this communityin order to preserve the Teach-ings transmitted by his Masterand provide aid to the practitio-ners there.

Activities1) Building a small study andpractice college. Estimated cost$ 71,533 USD.2) Construction of an aqueduct.Estimated cost $ 55,636 USD.

3) Restoration of the old templewhere the Chorten of RigdzinChangchub Dorje is preserved.Estimated cost 463,594 USD.4) Restoration of the printinghouse (The original woodblocksof Changchub Dorjes Dogchenteachings are stored here theroof is falling in and water threat-ens to damage the contents) andthe Chortens built by RigdzinChangchub Dorje.Estimated cost $ 55,636 USD.

Long Distance SponsorshipASIA has started a program ofSponsorship at a Distance for the66 nuns who live in retreat at De-drol Gonpa.

The objective is to contribute

to maintaining all 66 nuns by2008. This objective has beenmet, thanks to all of you whohave become new sponsors.Thank you!

However, 19 of these sponsor-ships are temporary and we needto find individual sponsors forthese people by the end of 2010.

We continue to fund raise forthe other aspects of the project.

What you can doMake a Tax Deductible Donation

You can contribute with a do-nation to the construction work,for which fund-raising has al-

ready begun.Receive a genuine quartz crystal spherewith the longsal symbol engraved

within, for making a donation ($ 150

minimum) or by starting a sponsor-

ship now!Each sphere comes with a light base

that emits rainbow lights throughout

the crystal.

You can make a donationsecurely and easily via paypal:1) Go to www.paypal.com2) Log in or open a new account.3) Click on Send Money tab attop of page.4) Send money to [email protected]

Become a SponsorWith $ 300 USDper year you can

provide food, basic medical as-sistance, educational materialsand everything necessary for anun to have a decent life withinthe monastery. Right now, thesepractitioners do not have enoughfood and their health is in verypoor condition. You can makepayments according to your cir-cumstances such as: automaticmonthly bank drafts of $25 each,payment by credit card throughPayPal in full/biannually/quarter-

ly or by check made out to ASIAand sent to:ASIA, Post Office Box 124,Conway, MA01341-0124 USA.

If you would like to helpspread the work about these

projects, please request Kham-dogar brochures and/or a copy ofthe Khamdogar DVDby [email protected].

We are sending brochures andthe DVD to each North Americanlocal Gakyil and practice group.We encourage you to share thisinformation with anyone youthink might be interested in help-ing with these projects.

Thank you very much for your

collaboration and many tashi deleksto you.ASIAAmerica board membersand staff

Association for International Sol-idarity in ASIA, Inc.ASIA, Post Office Box 124,Conway, MA01341-0124 USAPhone: 413.369.4153,Fax: [email protected]/en/

make them pay indemnity. Up totoday, we have not been able tofind a solution, but we hope thatin March the project will finallybe able to start.

ASIAis still managing a lot ofongoing projects in Qinghai andother projects should start up inthe course of 2009. To that end

we have met with all the authori-ties in Qinghai who have assured

us thatASIA

is very respected atthe local level and that the proj-ects are welcomed and will beable to continue without prob-lems.

During this mission it was notpossible to get to Derge becausethe entire prefecture of Ganze

was closed to foreigners. For thisreason ASIAhad to close two im-portant projects the sanitaryproject financed by the ItalianMinistry of Foreign Affairs anda project for creating 10 watersystems in 10 villages in Dergecounty and for the improvement

of sanitary conditions for the lo-cal population. In spite of thedifficult situation, we managedto complete the first two build-ings of the Derge School andduring this period we boughtall the equipment for the class-rooms and the dormitories. Thenthe equipment was transportedfrom Chengdu to Derge and de-livered to Khembo Sonam who isin charge of the school.

2009 will be a very complicat-ed year for Tibet, for the Tibetanpeople and for the non-govern-mental organizations that workin these areas. This year thereare three anniversaries: the cel-ebration of the 60th year afterthe long march of 1949, the 50thanniversary of the insurrectionin Lhasa and the flight of theDalai Lama from Tibet, and the20th anniversary of the massa-cre of Tiananmen Square. As themonth of March slowly drawsnearer the tensions are growingand with the aim of preventing

uprisings or disorders, the Chi-nese government has deployed ahuge military machine.

In spite of this, ASIAwill con-tinue its humanitarian, peacefuland non-political commitmentin favour of the Tibetan people

who today more than ever needyour support.

Rome, January 2009

ASIA

OnlusVia San Martino della Battaglia 3100185 Rome, ItalyTel +39.06.44340034Fax [email protected]


Khiugmo.

SIASIA

Oct. 2330Shitro Khordas RangdrolRetreatSpainNov. 1317Dzogchen Teaching Retreat

VenezuelaDec. 411Dzogchen Longsal LongdeTeachingRetreat

Dec. 26January 3Mandarava Tsedrub ChdlenRetreat

Upcoming Retreats withChgyal Namkhai Norbu>> continued from page 1


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Shang Shung InstituteShang Shung Institute

2008 has ended and we

would like to give you ashort report of the activi-

ties related to translations andpublications: In 2008 we published threebooks for the public, the bookBirth, Life and Death in Eng-lish and in Italian. The thirdbook Longchenpas advice fromthe heart has just gone to pressand is now available. In summer 2008 we held thefourth Training for Translatorsfrom Tibetan at Mer

themirror 96

Documents