Event : Dzogchen Retreat with His Holiness Menri Trizen
Date : June 25 - July 15 2011
Venue : Serenity Ridge 25 miles south of Charlottesville,
Virginia
Website :
https://www.ligmincha.org/news-releases/summer-2011.html
According to the Bon dzogchen teachings, the suffering of sentient
beings can be traced to a single cause: our failure to comprehend
that external appearances are only a manifestation of our own
innate awareness. The teaching of the Six Lamps, from the Oral
Transmission of Zhang Zhung, guides us to experience pure vision by
recognizing the clear light of self-awareness in all levels of our
existence:
* In the vast, infinite space that is the base-of-all
* In the space within our heart center
* In the subtle channels of our sacred body that connect the heart
with the eyes
* In the external space surrounding us
* In all external visions
* In the visions we experience after death
During these teachings, through instruction and guided meditations
Tenzin Rinpoche will help us learn to maintain our connection with
the inseparable state of emptiness and innate awareness and to
perceive all aspects of our environment with pure vision.
Ultimately this practice is a path to self-liberation, enabling one
to experience all visions of the bardo (the transitional state
after death) as inseparable from one’s own essence, the essence of
Samantabhadra.
In teaching the Experiential Transmission, Rinpoche draws from a
text known as the Chag Tri (Nyam Gyu Dru Gyal wa’i Chag Tri). The
Chag Tri has 11 chapters, taught at Serenity Ridge as a five-part
series:
Part 1: The Ngöndro. This first part comprises the recitation and
instruction of the preliminary practices, or ngöndro. The ngöndro
is the authentic doorway through which a practitioner gains entry
to the Experiential Transmission teachings and receives the
blessings of its lineage holders. Its integrated series of nine
preliminary practices help to tame the mind, turn the mind toward
the path, and purify the illnesses, obstacles and mental
obscurations that obscure the mind’s primordially perfect
nature.
Part 2: Introduction to the Nature of Mind. The knowledge and
skills learned here are applied in all parts of the cycle to come.
In a deliberate and structured way, the Part 2 teachings present
the foundational practice of zhiné as the skillful means to develop
a calm abiding mind; and give instructions for dark retreat, sky
gazing, and sun gazing as skillful means to develop stability in
mindfulness. These practices ultimately permit experiences of
innate awareness, or rigpa. In turn, when experiences of innate
awareness are developed and stabilized in a methodical way through
meditation practice, they confirm the direction of the
practitioner’s journey and allow it to naturally unfold.
Part 3: The View, Meditation, Behavior, and Result of Dzogchen.
Part 3 further guides students in developing inner clarity and
integrating what they have learned into their practice and their
lives. Practitioners will explore:
* how the base of naked seeing provides the
self-introduction and the dzogchen view
* how the path of experiencing the clear light
is the meditation
* how the secondary causes of being challenged
to bring every experience to the path are the behavior
* how the fruition of developing confidence in
the three kayas and finding one’s own place is the result.
Part 4: Removing Obstacles. Here students will receive teachings on
how to overcome obstacles to their practice while sustaining and
cultivating the results they have achieved during previous parts of
the cycle. They will learn and engage in practices that work with
the channels, prana and tigle, such as trul khor (Tibetan yoga),
tsa lung, and additional support practices drawn from the Zhang
Zhung Nyam Gyu, A Khrid and other sources.
Part 5: The Practice of Seven Cycles of Clear Light. During this
final part of the cycle, students will receive guidance in tögel
(pure vision) meditation and will engage in practices with the sky,
sun and darkness. Tenzin Rinpoche will discuss the dark-retreat
experiences of various teachers, including his own experiences; and
will offer a brief explanation of the seven cycles comprising the
traditional retreat of 49 days in total darkness. For those
students who have completed Parts 1 through 5 and are ready to
engage in the 49-day dark retreat, Rinpoche will be available to
give personal, one-on-one guidance.
