Tsoknyi Rinpoche's Blog, page 21

Open Heart, Open Mind Named One of the Best Buddhist Books of 2012 by Buddhadharma Magazine!

Buddhadharma Magazine listed Open Heart, Open Mind as one of the Best Buddhist Books of 2012!

 

Please click here  to connect to the article.

Martha’s Vineyard 2012 Closing

A video offered by Juan Andres Videla capturing the essence of the Martha’s Vineyard 2012 month-long retreat closing and including the Mandala Offering chant. Please click here to download:   MV Retreat 2012

2012 martha’s vineyard month-long

Rinpoche taught on the timeless and ever relevant “Naturally Free Wisdom Mind” text by Patrul Rinpoche for 20 days, going deeply into Dzogchen practice and the detailed meditation instructions given by Patrul Rinpoche. The setting at the Yoga Barn on Martha’s Vineyard was serene, quiet and beautiful, accented by the powerful and wild storms (including Hurricane Sandy) racing over the island.

 

(Mystery group photo taken at end of the month-long)

 

(Scarlet and Rex, our hosts and owners of the Yoga Barn)

 

To amplify the text and provide context, Rinpoche clarified key terms and their experiential meanings, such as prajna, salwa, nangwa, machuppa (non-modification, fabrication) and taught extensively on rigpa expression, the three levels of interdependence, co-emergence, mother and child luminosity, the five wisdoms in relationship to the five kleshas, and the union of the two truths. This retreat, coupled with the prior 10 days on Bodhicitta and Mind Nature, wove together intensive practice with integration in daily living on the island (students lived in rented houses, mostly in groups, all across the island).

 

Also, many helpful and clarifying discussions took place on cognitive science and science in terms of understanding the nature of attention, the brain correlates of consciousness, and the concept of randomness or unpredictability. As is customary at the close of each month-long retreat, students gave enjoyable and gutsy performance offerings at the tsok feast on the last evening of the retreat, revealing musical, movement , storytelling, and singing abilities unsuspected and unseen in the 29 days of silence.

 

(Tulsi sings about the gypsy path)

 

(Jen listens to her melody during the tsok)

 

(Paul playing the clarinet)

more on 2013 retreats, mount madonna & iron bird

We are happy to announce that Tsoknyi Rinpoche’s 2013 teaching schedule is now on the web (www.tsoknyirinpoche.org/retreats/) for your future planning! All the information we currently have about each program is on the web now, so if you see some information missing, please check the web site link in a couple of weeks. We will be updating information as it comes in.

 

Rinpoche’s first open (no prerequisite) 6-day retreat in 2013 will be held at Mount Madonna near Watsonville, California, March 22 – 27th. This new topic, Wisdom in Aging: Waking up the Mind and Revitalizing the Subtle Body , is timely and significant for all ages. Registration and housing availability is filling fast, so be sure to sign up soon. To access more information and register, please visit: http://www.tsoknyirinpoche.org/program/wisdom-in-aging-waking-up-the-mind-and-revitalizing-the-subtle-body/

 

By popular demand, three more screenings of the film When the Iron Bird Flies will be held at the Rubin Museum of Art (NYC) in December, as well as the Rosendale Theater in New York in January. Additionally, there will be five showings of the film at the Baedecker Theater at the Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder, CO, January 16-19. For specific screening information, please visit www.chariotvideos.com

2012 annual letter from tsoknyi rinpoche

 

Dear Friends,

 

As 2012 draws to a close, I would like to let you know about some of the work that Pundarika Foundation and the new International Friends of the Tsoknyi Nepal Nuns have achieved over the past year.

 

Someone recently asked me if any of my teachers ever thought about retirement or at least time off. I replied, definitely not. Their continuous joy is knowing they can always and in all ways benefit others who may be suffering. When I reflect on the lives of my teachers and then their teachers and so on, what I see is benefiting others has no end.

 

Tsoknyi Lineage Nuns of Nepal and Tibet

 

Tsoknyi Lineage Nangchen Nuns, Tibet

One of my chief responsibilities is to provide the spiritual and material support for more than 2000 nuns in Nangchen, Eastern Tibet and over 200 nuns in Nepal. The first Tsoknyi Rinpoche initiated this legacy in the mid-1800s and began the tradition of creating and sustaining a vibrant network of practice centers and hermitages that would allow thousands of women to strive for the fruit of Tibetan Buddhist practices: great love and compassion, and profound freedom. This system was renowned in Tibet for the commitment and deep realization of its practitioners, with many great masters attesting to their excellence.

 

After seven years of fundraising and careful investment, we have succeeded in closing the $2.3 million endowment fund. Distribution of these endowment funds will begin next year, under the auspices of the Bridge Foundation, one of the most respected and effective NGO’s in Eastern Tibet. Funding will be prioritized by need to the more than 26 nunneries, retreat centers and hermitages where these extraordinary women live and train. To learn about the lives of the Tsoknyi Lineage Nangchen nuns in Tibet, please visit www.tsoknyirinpoche.org/monestaries/the-tsoknyi-lineage-nuns-of-nangchen/

 

The International Friends of the Tsoknyi Lineage Nepal Nuns

Over the past 20 years, scores of Buddhist nuns have made the arduous journey from Nangchen, Tibet to Nepal to reconnect with me as their lineage teacher. In early 2010, a home for these exceptional women was found at the abandoned Chobhar Monastery outside of Kathmandu. In the spring of 2011, they were joined by 82 girls from ages 6 to 14—all from my home village of Nubri in northern Nepal. By the fall of 2011, over 135 adult nuns, young girls, and live-in teachers began to experience the opportunity of a secular and religious education for the first time in their lives.

 

Chobhar Monastery was designed to house 35 people, and the aging facility was overwhelmed. It became crucial to address this situation, and The International Friends of the Tsoknyi Nepal Nuns was formed as a result to help support the vision of continuing the Tsoknyi Lineage of educating, supporting and championing female Buddhist practitioners. By early 2012, architectural drawings and site plans were completed for the building of a nunnery and integrated educational facility called Tsoknyi Gechak Ling. Our vision is to train nuns to become among the most accomplished Buddhist practitioners and Dharma teachers in the world. I envision them being particularly skilled at teaching the importance of loving kindness, compassion, and how to become healthy human beings. They will inspire students to work on a variety of social causes such as the environment, medical needs, education, and community health.

 

Please visit the newly created International Friends of the Tsoknyi Lineage Nepal Nuns website: www.tsoknyinepalnuns.org for up to date information, to make donations, or to request prayers. For further information contact Julie Green at juliegreen@tsoknyinepalnuns.org or call (970) 846-1016.

 

Tsoknyi Gargon Ling Nunnery, Muktinath, Nepal



In 1991, when they learned of a Tibetan lama from their own lineage, three senior nuns from Tsoknyi Gargon Ling Nunnery high in the Himalayas in Muktinath, Nepal, walked hundreds of miles over mountainous terrain to Kathmandu to request my instruction and help.Twenty years later and as a result of your generosity, construction on a kitchen, dining hall, and a beautiful new shrine hall was completed. Due to these improvements, seven nuns were able to begin a three-year retreat in November of this year.

 

The October 2011 Consecration of Tsoknyi Gargon Ling was a joyous occasion attended by thousands of villagers, renowned teachers, and students from around the world. Jean Chang, a long-time student, is to be congratulated for her dedication to and support of this project along with all of the other students who helped the Muktinath Nuns receive a beautiful home and shrine hall.

 

I will be visiting Tsoknyi Gargon Ling in Muktinath April 21-28, 2013, along with any students who wish to make the trip. It will be a time to receive teachings and do retreat in a very special environment. (Individuals will be responsible for making their own travel arrangements. Please e-mail juliegreen@tsoknyinepalnuns.org for more information.)

 

Open Heart, Open Mind Book Tour



Between April and July of 2012, and with the help of many of my students, I was able to complete a vigorous three-month tour of the United States. Over 6,000 people attended book events in person and over 20,000 participated by podcast, through our web site (www.tsoknyirinpoche.org), and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Tsoknyi.Rinpoche.Sangha).The tour quickly became an extraordinary love affair with people from all walks of life. So many people were able to touch the Buddhadharma and found themselves laughing with a wondrous, lively, childlike joy, as we defined and explored the teachings of the Buddha for a modern age.

 

A New Film: When the Iron Bird Flies



A new feature-length documentary film produced and directed by Victress Hitchcock—a long-time student—was released commercially in October 2012 and already has had excellent reviews in film festivals in Amsterdam, San Francisco, and New York. Supported by Pundarika Foundation, When the Iron Bird Flies examines the path of an ancient and enduring spiritual tradition and asks whether Buddhist teachings can help people living in the 21st century to discover genuine happiness and create a saner, more compassionate existence. For more information, please visit the Chariot Videos web site, http://www.chariotvideos.com/documentary/ironbird.shtml

 

Student Path



We are currently engaged in designing a curriculum that will serve as a means for students who feel connected to my lineage to train in the Buddhist path. We have already assembled many audio teachings, transcriptions, and videos, and as time allows next year, we will focus on organizing this treasury of teachings and making it available.

 

Yeshe Rangsal Retreat Land



The very special 55 acres that comprise Yeshe Rangsal have been blessed over and over by many rinpoches and lamas through teachings, prayers, and practice, and the land is protected by Dorje Yudronma. Because our efforts have focused on cultivating support for the nuns in Tibet and Nepal, development has been slow. However, we are making some progress toward fulfilling our vision of a Three-Year Retreat Center for about 15 students, as well as individual retreat cabins. Each year we make small improvements, anticipating a time in the near future when we can develop this “dharma land” to its full potential. This coming spring, for example, we are constructing new bathrooms for retreatants. And our motto is: “from portalettes to porcelain.” This project will be completed in time for the August 2013 retreats in Crestone and will eventually serve as permanent facilities for longer-term residents of 15 retreat cabins spread across the land.

 

Of course, support for the Tsoknyi lineage nuns and other projects would not be possible without your kind and generous contributions. Please take the time to consider this opportunity to become involved in these compassionate projects to educate girls and women in Nepal. We are looking for an architect and grant writer to volunteer their time. Please contact Julie Green at juliegreen@tsoknyinepalnuns.org if this is something that you may be interested in helping with. As the year 2012 comes to an end, funding to complete the nun’s shedra and residence building is urgently needed. Your donations ensure that the Tsoknyi lineage of accomplished nuns will continue and that women practitioners will have the chance to increase Dharma throughout the world. (All donations are, of course, tax-deductible.)

 

My very best wishes and prayers to all of you in the coming year!

 

With deep love, respect and gratitude,

Tsoknyi Rinpoche

Bodhicitta & Mind Nature: Martha’s Vineyard 2012

Rinpoche completed a very wonderful retreat on November 2nd, which began with excellent teachings and group practice on how to deeply relax and “be” in the body. This was followed by his detailed instructions and demonstrations on how to bring down lung to allow the subtle body to regenerate itself, especially after so many retreatants traveled so far to get to Martha’s Vineyard. This practice accelerated everyone’s ability to “show up” for his laser-like presentation of the three aspects of dependent origination or interdependence before he explored, in the depth and spontaneity of a true master, the nature of mind and bodhicitta. Half-way through the retreat, Hurricane Sandy enabled everyone to practice whole-heartedly (winds were up to 80 miles per hour in gusts in a wild display of the power of nature), and Rinpoche gave specific instructions for practicing on that day.

 

This photograph was taken by Ani Konchog Lhamo of Norway and is comprised of most of the participants in the Bodhicitta and Mind Nature retreat who were not staying on for the entire month-long through November 20th.

Crestone August 2012 Retreats

Rinpoche invited special guest Elizabeth Namgyel Mattis to teach two sessions at each Crestone retreat on Madhyamika (the middle way), developed in India by second-century philosopher Nagarjuna, and the Heart Sutra. Reminded that the middle way has no center or reference point and only interdependence, that there is only relationship, that emptiness is fullness and not void, students learned the mantra: “Because things are in relationship, there is emptiness. Because there is emptiness, everything can arise.” Even the nature of karma is empty, and death lacks permanent existence.



At the first retreat in August, A Dzogchen Approach to an Open Heart and Open Mind, approximately 130 people attended with 30 people taking refuge and 40 affirming their student/teacher relationship with Rinpoche. Rinpoche gave the Trinley Nyingpo empowerment during the second retreat to over 150 retreatants.

Photographs: ©2012 James Gritz Photography, www.jamesgritz.com

Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche at Rigpa NYC Center 8/30

Common Sense, Philosophy, and Realization. As for Realization: Rigpa and Marigpa (Knowing and Not Knowing)

Thursday August 30th at 7pm

We are thrilled to inform you that Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche will give a teaching on Thursday, August 30 at 7pm, at the Rigpa New York City center.

Born in 1951, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche is an accomplished high Lama of the Kagyu tradition. He is the eldest son of the celebrated Dzogchen master, H.E. Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and the great-great-grandson of one of the most outstanding Nyingma treasure-finders of the 19th century in Tibet, Terchen Chokgyur Lingpa.  For more information, please click here.

 

 

 

 

Bodhicitta and Mind Nature Scholarship Information

The scholarship application deadline for this retreat is August 15th. Awards will be announced via e-mail approximately August 18th. (See the Registration Form for details on how to apply for a scholarship and pay the $50 scholarship application fee.) The balance due on outstanding registration fees must be paid on or by September 24th. Registration will close October 1st, after which you can e-mail the registrar to make arrangements to register and pay for the retreat.

Phakchok Rinpoche at Rigpa NYC 8/29/12

The Key to a Meaningful Life

Wednesday August 29th at 7pm

 

We are thrilled to inform you that Phakchok Rinpoche will give a public talk on Wednesday, August 29 at 7pm, at the Rigpa New York City center.

As human beings, we’re all searching for the same . . . please click here for more information!