Chögyal Namkhai Norbu closes the Thirtieth Anniversary
Celebrations
At the end of the Thirtieth Anniversary Celebrations for Merigar,
the festivities concluded at the Temple of Great Liberation at
Merigar West in Tuscany, Italy. During the closing ceremony on July
19, 2011, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu gave the following message.
I want to say thank you to everybody, all Dzogchen Community
people, everywhere, and also to local people in the area. I am very
happy about everybody’s participation and I also want to say thank
you to everybody because it is very important that we collaborate
so that everything manifests in a positive way.
The aim of the Dzogchen Community is, you know very well, that
everybody in this world becomes a little more aware and responsible
in that way. We know how our human condition is - we have so many
kinds of limitations, the limitations of the individual that we
call ego and that develop in our country, in our family, in
everything, in aspects of politics, of economics, even in the
spiritual path. In the real sense that is the source of all
problems.
For example, we say the Dzogchen Community. The Community doesn’t
mean a group of people in general. Community means people who have
awareness and collaborate together, knowing what the main point is.
We say Dzogchen Community. What is Dzogchen? It means our real
nature. Everybody has their real nature and we are trying to
understand that and trying to do our best. This is what is called
Dzogchen Teaching and is what I have tried to teach for thirty
years. Many people already have that kind of knowledge. When we
have this knowledge it means that we go a little beyond our
limitations.
Everybody always says we need peace and if there is no peace we
cannot find happiness. But how can we have peace? There will only
be peace when there is the evolution of the individual. What does
evolution mean? Evolution means that we know how our condition is
and how many different kinds of limitations we have relatively. If
we are not conditioned by them, it means finally we are getting
into our real nature. This is the principle of the Dzogchen
teaching.
Dzogchen means our real nature and teaching is for discovering that
and being in it. Anyone who is in this knowledge is in evolution.
It is not like revolution, which means we are thinking and judging
and making a programme. We think that there is something wrong,
something negative that we have to change and think that revolution
is the solution. In the real sense that is not the solution because
2500 years ago Buddha explained the teaching of the four noble
truths. The root of the noble truths is cause and effect. When we
have a problem it is an effect, not a cause. If we fight against
it, we will never win. But if we are aware, we can learn that its
cause exists and that there is a possibility to modify and change
that. This knowledge is already the base of evolution. Even if only
one person has that knowledge, gradually it will develop.
For example, when I arrived in Italy the first time, there was not
a single person, not even a university professor, who knew what
Dzogchen was. But if you observe today you can see how many people
know about Dzogchen teaching in the Western world. This means that
evolution has started and is going ahead. When I arrived I was
alone, but today I am not.
We are in time and time is going ahead. After 100 years probably
not one of us will still be in this world. But if there is
evolution it will go ahead until the end of our globe. This
is something very important for generations and generations. We
cannot only think of ourselves. We must also think about our
families and about future generations. For this reason it is very
important that we know and are in this knowledge.
This is the reason I am very happy that you are collaborating and
many people have made sacrifices and come here from far away. So I
want to say thank you to everybody. And I am also very happy that
people from the area around Arcidosso have been participating in
our festival. They know that this is something useful and positive.
This is very important for us. So I want to say thank you to
everybody. And there is not much more to say.