THE MIRRORNewspaper of the International Dzogchen Community Nov/Dec 2006 • Issue No. 83

by Paolo Tesio

Alovely huge moonguided our way toTashigar Sur, Cor-

doba, Argentina. My fami-ly was sleeping in the caras I drove through thewarm southern night. Iwas feeling good aboutbeing with the Mastersoon and all the diverseand interesting Sanghaonce again. I was alsoreflecting on the nicemoments we had had withRinpoche in Uruguay onlya few days before. Rin-poche was indeed verygenerous to come to oursmall country since thereare so few members of theDzogchen Community inUruguay.Rinpoche arrived at theport of Montevideo on

November 13, 2006,crossing the big brownestuary of the Rio de laPlata River from BuenosAires. Rinpoche arrivedwith Clara Bordeau andthe ever loyal and inde-structible Fabio, whoaccompanied him on thisleg of the journey.Rinpoche said at theteaching that he had want-ed to visit Uruguay for along time, and now he hadfinally made it! It seemedthat Rinpoche enjoyed histime resting by the sea,swimming and havingsome typical Uruguayanasado*.We were quite surprisedto see sixty to seventypeople regularly attendingthe teachings given byRinpoche for this three-day retreat at the Hotel

Ibis in Montevideo. To bein the presence of such animportant Master wasindeed a grand event forthis small and quiet coun-try where few things everhappen at all. Rinpoche gave an intro-ductory talk includingSutra, Tantra, the path ofAti, as well as direct intro-duction. He talked aboutnot jumping to the higherpractice if you don’t havea solid base and alsostrongly advised us to endrelationships with peoplewho have had contactwith the Gyalpo Shugdenpractice.Rinpoche was as wonder-ful and tender as a goodmother can be. We prac-ticed together in his houseon the Adzom Drukpaanniversary day. He

delighted us with manystories. What else is there to sayin this delicate momentwhere nothing is certainand no one knows whatwill happen in the future.After many years we areso used to havingRinpoche always there,always teaching and trav-eling for us that we arelosing the deep meaningof this constant sacrificeand deep dedication forour benefit. It is importantthat we really try andcross this river of ego andlimitation. The Master isalready there; the currentis really strong but so let’stry and cross over now!!!

* typical South Americanbarbeque

THE PERUVIAN DZOGCHEN COMMUNITYIS VERY PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE:

RETREAT WITH

CHÖGYAL NAMKHAI NORBULIMA, PERU

JANUARY 19 - 23, 2007

SHINE AND LHAGTHONG IN THE DZOGCHEN WAY

THE RETREAT WILL BE HELD AT A RECREATION CENTER IN CHOSICA,LIMA

(1 HOUR FROM DOWNTOWN LIMA)

THERE WILL BE ALSO YANTRA YOGA CLASSES FOR BEGINNERS

AND EXPLANATIONS OF PRACTICES IN THE AFTERNOONS

COST OF THE RETREAT:USD 80 (5 DAYS) APPROX.

(IT DOES NOT INCLUDE LODGINGS/FOOD DURING RETREAT)

DISCOUNTS:REDUCED MEMBERS 50%ORDINARY MEMBERS 20%SUSTAINING MEMBERS 40%

MERITORIOUS MEMBERS 100%(TO APPLY TO DISCOUNTS YOU MUST HAVE ALREADY PAID

FULL 2006 MEMBERSHIP

TO YOUR GAR OR LOCAL GAKYIL)

REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION:WEB PAGE: WWW.DZOGCHENPERU.COM

EMAIL: GAKYIL_PERU@YAHOO.COM

LODGINGS BEFORE/AFTER RETREAT:HTTP://PERU-HOTELS.COM/LIMA.HTM

FOR MORE INFORMATION:WEB PAGE: WWW.DZOGCHENPERU.COM

EMAIL: GAKYIL_PERU@YAHOO.COM

C R O S S I N G T H E R I V E RCHÖGYAL NAMKHAI NORBU TEACHES IN MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY

NOVEMBER 17-19, 2006

Vajra Dance Courses at Tashigar Norte Margarita Island, Venezuela

February - April 2007

Course of the Vajra Dance of Six Spaces of SamantabhadraFor beginners with Carmen Rivas

Date: 16-17 & 19-20-21-22 FebruaryCost: Bs. 225.000

Course of the Vajra Dance of the Song of the Vajra1° Part - For beginners with Luda Kislichenko

Date: 28 Feb. – 4 MarchCost: Bs. 225.000

Course of the Vajra Dance of the Song of the Vajra2° Part - For beginners with Luda Kislichenko

Date: 8-13 MarchCost: Bs. 225.000

Vajra Dance Teacher Training 2° Level with Adriana Dal Borgo& Prima Mai

Date: 20-28 March 2007.Cost: Bs. 900.000

Course of the Vajra Dance of Six Spaces of Samantabhadra &Three Vajra

For advanced with Luda KislichenkoSupervised by Prima Mai

Date: 5-9 AprilCost: Bs. 300.000

Course and practice of the Vajra Dance of the Song of the Vajraand Gomadevi practice

For advanced with Adriana Dal BorgoDate: 25-29 AprilCost: Bs. 300.000

We will announce very soon the requirements to participate in each course.

Gakyil of Tashigar Norte

C O N T E N T S

Shang Shung InstituteMedical Program,USA,page 7

Teaching by ChögyalNamkhai Norbu, page 2

ASIA update, page 6 Book Review On Birth,Life and Death , page 5

Community News,pages 9-19

How I Met ChögyalNamkhai Norbu, page 20

Uruguay Retreat N ZEITZ

Good day everybody! We arehere at the Barcelona retreat.This retreat is about

Dzogchen Upadesha teaching. Youalready know that in the Dzogchenteaching we have three differentseries called Dzogchen Semde,Longde, and Upadesha. These threeteachings are related to the threestatements of Garab Dorje. The firstof the three statements is directintroduction. The three differenttransmissions are related with thethree experiences of the individual -our three existences of body, speechand mind – and through these threeexistences we enter into the knowl-edge of Dzogchen. We have threemethods of transmission to get intothat knowledge. The first is calledDzogchen Semde, which is morerelated to our mental experience. In Dzogchen Semde we work withmany experiences of emptiness.There are the very famous practicescalled shine and lhagthong, forexample. Shine means we are in acalm state and in the calm state weexperience emptiness. The experi-ence of emptiness is related mainlyto our mind, so the series and meth-ods of this teaching we use in orderto have the experience of thisknowledge are called DzogchenSemde. Another very important experienceis clarity; clarity is related with ourenergy level and therefore with clar-ity we can have many experienceslike inner and outer visions.Through these experiences of claritywe can get into the knowledge, andthe methods we use are calledDzogchen Longde. Long meansspace and space is the dimensionwhere we can have the experiencesof visions. In the real sense energy isrelated with the existence of voiceand voice is related with our clarity.Another experience on a more phys-ical level is very much related tosymbols. Symbols in Tantric meth-ods, for example, are the manifesta-tions of deities and mandalas. Theyare all symbols. For example, whenwe speak of the real condition ofenlightened beings we say dhar-makaya. Dharmakaya means thereal condition of existence of allphenomena, emptiness that isbeyond form and color, etc., so if wehave a manifestation of a mandalaor deities inside that dimension, wecan understand that is not our realnature. That is a symbol manifestingand through that symbol we can getinto the knowledge.If you observe or look into a mirror,for example, you can understandthat the mirror has infinite potential-ity to manifest different kinds ofreflections, but the reflections yousee are interdependent with thethings in front of the mirror. Whatyou see is called a reflection but it isnot the real nature of the mirror. Thereal nature of the mirror is clear,pure and limpid, and through thatpotentiality there is a manifestation.To discover the nature of the mirrorwe need reflections, and throughreflections we can discover that themirror has infinite potentiality formanifesting reflections. In the sameway, we also use many methodsrelated to our clarity and the mani-festation of symbols, and thesemethods bring the discovery of theknowledge of the real nature of themirror. For that reason, the experience ofthe individual is very important.First of all, in any tradition, whenwe go to do a practice there is anexplanation of a position we shoulddo to apply that practice. That posi-

tion is done with the physical body;then there is a breathing method andan explanation of your visualization.The position is related to the physi-cal body, breathing to energy relatedto the voice and visualization isrelated to the mind. We are applyingmethods with our three existences,and therefore it is important that weknow that all applications of prac-tice are applied that way.Dzogchen Longde is related morewith our energy level, but DzogchenUpadesha is related with all ourmanifestations - pure and impure -because when we are in the realknowledge it means we are discov-ering our real nature and that meanswe have the capacity to integrate inthat state. We integrate both pureand impure vision. All sentientbeings have six lokas; the six lokasare six different conditions that cor-respond to six different actions andemotions that are karmically pro-duced. That is called impure vision.If you have real knowledge andunderstanding of the Dzogchenteaching, the solution is your real-ization. The solution is not that youescape from samsara or impurevision. This is not the Dzogchenway. You integrate; there is alwaysthe possibility of integrating. Inorder to integrate, first of all youneed knowledge. Having knowledge doesn’t meangoing to school, following lessonsor doing analyses. In the Dzogchenteaching, having knowledge meansyou discover your real nature andyour real condition completely.Dzogchen is not the name of teach-ing, school or tradition. RealDzogchen is our real condition.Everyone has Dzogchen, but we areignorant of it. For that reason weneed to follow the Dzogchen teach-ing. Through Dzogchen, we discov-er firstly that we all have that quali-fication, secondly we learn methodsand we can discover, and when wediscover then we can get in the realnature. When we get in our realnature, all our condition is purevision and we can integrate in thatstate. The method used to integrate in

your real nature is the teaching ofDzogchen Upadesha. Upadesha isSanskrit. In Tibetan upadesha isman ngag, man means negative andngag means voice. It means ‘novoice’; ‘no voice’ does not meanthat the teacher is not explaining thisteaching. That is not the principle.‘No voice’ means that sometimesthe teacher can’t teach or explainbecause people are not seriouslyinterested, or sometimes the teachercan’t explain because people do nothave the capacity to apply. When wesay integrating, it means you need tohave discovered the state in order tointegrate something, so you shoulddiscover your real nature and thenyou can have that precise knowl-edge for discovering your realnature. When you have discoveredyour real nature, then you can inte-grate.In this case you need methods ofintegrating if you have not discov-ered your real nature. If you onlyhave some intellectual understand-ing and you are thinking, “Oh this isdiscovering the real nature ofDzogchen”, then when you followupadesha teachings it becomes anobstacle because you are missingthe base. For that reason it is calledupadesha; many upadesha methodsare experiences of important teach-ers. The most important Dzogchenteacher in our time is Garab Dorje.In the Vajrayana teaching in Tibet,the most important teacher is GuruPadmasambhava. There are somany realized beings, not onlyGarab Dorje and GuruPadmasambhava, and they all havetheir experiences. They discoveredexperiences for realizing and meth-ods of integration. They taught thesemethods to their students and thenthese students wrote down theteachings and taught them to theirstudents. All these series of teach-ings are called upadesha. Many methods of upadesha must bekept secret. You may have heard ofthe two main teachings calledtregchö and thögal within upade-sha. People think that tregchö andthögal are general names of teach-

ings in Dzogchen, but that is nottrue. They are characteristic teach-ings of Dzogchen upadesha.Tregchö is to introduce how to get inthe real knowledge, and when youhave discovered that, then how youdevelop integration and try to be inthe state in any moment. Thatmethod is called tregchö; tregchöteachings are given when theteacher knows that the students areseriously interested in the Dzogchenteaching. Then they introducetregchö teachings. The principle of the Dzogchenteaching of tregchö is not only fromUpadesha but also exists inDzogchen Semde and Longde, onlyin Semde and Longde it is not giventhe title or name tregchö. There is adifferent way of presenting thename, but whenever a Dzogchenteaching is given from Semde orLongde, it is Dzogchen tregchö. It is said that thögal is more impor-tant than tregchö. It is true that thö-gal is more important than having aprecise experience of tregchö,because the principle of thögal is toquickly mature your capacity oftotal integration. Methods of thögalwork similarly to DzogchenLongde, with visions, but not onlyvisions for enjoyment and entertain-ment. You can also have visionswhen you use drugs, but that doesn’thelp anything. In the same way,when you experience thögal, youcan have visions, but what do youdo if you have dualistic vision whenyou use that method? It can becomean obstacle for people who have nobase, because this teaching methodand transmission are very preciousfor a quicker maturation of knowl-edge. If you have no precise base,then you fall into dualistic vision. Some people became attached tovisions they had when they wereyoung and would like to have thosevisions again. The visions no longermanifest because we becomeattached to them. When you areyoung sometimes you have visions.This is because everyone has infi-nite potentiality in his or her realnature, and sometimes in our cir-cumstances there are secondarycauses that manifest. When some-thing like this happens and youbecome attached, the experience isblocked. Therefore with methodslike thögal, if you use them withouta base, you fall into dualistic visionand totally block your possibility touse that method in your life. That isvery negative, not positive. For thatreason, serious teachers who pre-cisely have that knowledge do notteach students if they do not have avery precise base or if they do notdemonstrate that capacity. The intention of a Dzogchen teacheris to help the student, not to createmore problems, so if there are someobstacles, it is much better to keep theteaching secret. Many Westernersthink that when a teacher does notteach a certain method like thögal,the teacher is limited and wants tokeep this precious secret method forhimself. That is not true! There is areason it is kept secret, and it is alsovery important that you know thatand that you follow the teaching in acorrect way. If you follow a teach-ing in the correct way and do yourbest, then of course you can havebenefit from any kind of method.These are the three series of theDzogchen teaching. They corre-spond to the three statements ofGarab Dorje. Garab Dorje gave allhis life to the Dzogchen teachingand he had many realized students,but at the moment he manifested the

rainbow body, he left his three state-ments to his most important student,Manjushrimitra. These three state-ments of Garab Dorje are consid-ered the conclusion of all the knowl-edge of the Dzogchen teaching.That means that if we want to learnDzogchen teaching, we should fol-low and study these three state-ments. Also when teachers intro-duce, teach and transmit knowledgeof Dzogchen, they should use thesethree principles. If we use thesethree statements of Garab Dorje,then that teaching or meditationpractice is perfect. If it does not cor-respond with the three statements ofGarab Dorje, even if it is calledDzogchen, it is not. Garab Dorje said the first statementis direct introduction. That meansthat from the beginning everybodyhas primordial potentiality, but weare ignorant and we do not knowthat. The teacher can help us under-stand that we have that potentiality,through oral transmission, later withsymbol transmission, and finally wework with our experience. We learneverything in life through our expe-rience. We have ordinary knowl-edge in our lives; for example, weknow that fire is hot. If we putsomething in the fire it burns; thiswe know concretely through ourexperience. Everything is learnedthrough experience. For example, ifI ask you what sweet is like, you saythat sweet is like sugar, but thatassumes that I know how sugar is.Maybe I have never tasted or haveany knowledge of sugar. You saythat sweet is like sugar, but thatserves no function for me because Ido not know what sugar is. We have learned everything throughlife experience. For that reason, wecan also get in our real nature anddiscover through experience. InSutra teaching, in Mahayana, it issaid that prajñaparamita is beyondexplanation. Not only the prajña-paramita in Sutra, but also when wesay vajra in Vajrayana, andDzogchen in the Dzogchen teach-ing, all of these we can explain andgive an idea, but we really can’treally explain what Dzogchen is.Dzogchen is beyond words andbeyond explanation. Buddhaexplained that in Mahayana Sutrawith the very famous sutra prajña-paramita hridaya - the essence of theparamita. This sutra says that thereare no eyes, no nose, and no ears.There is nothing. There is no wis-dom, no realization, no path and thatmeans we should go beyond that. Itis not possible to explain. TheDzogchen teaching is also like that;but if there is no possibility toexplain then why do we follow thisteaching? We follow the teachingthinking that one day we can haverealization, and that means that evenif we can’t explain, somehow thereis some possibility. The possibilityis that through our experience wediscover, even if we can’t show orexplain. So you see how importantexperience is.In our life experience of infiniteexperiences, when we get to theconclusion everything is related toour three existences of body, speechand mind. Everybody has thesethree existences. We also have expe-riences related with these three prin-ciples: the experience related withmind is emptiness, the experiencerelated with voice is energy andclarity, and the experience related toour physical level is sensation. Forexample, if we have a pleasant sen-sation or an unpleasant sensation,these are the main experiences used

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Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

Chögyal Namkhai NorbuBarcelona, Spain

Thursday October 26, 2006Excerpt from Teaching Day 1

Rinpoche at Tashigar Gonpa N ZEITZ

continued on next page

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 6 3

as the method in not only in theDzogchen teaching, but also in allVajrayana teaching. When theteacher explains with a symbol tohelp us understand, it is called sym-bol transmission. This is not com-plete transmission. Complete trans-mission is when the teacher and stu-dent apply the experience of thatstate together. When we discoverour instant presence it is calleddirect introduction in the Dzogchenteaching. The most important thingyou need to receive if you are inter-ested in the Dzogchen teaching isdirect introduction. Direct introduc-tion is the connection with thetransmission and used to discoveryour real nature. It is indispensablein the Dzogchen teaching. This isthe Dzogchen way.Vajrayana and Tantrism use themethod of transformation. Tantrismmeans working with pure visionand impure vision - pure vision isconsidered something positive andimpure vision negative. Negative istransformed into positive and thatmeans that finally you can get in thestate of Mahamudra. This is differ-ent from Dzogchen. Direct intro-duction is not the most importantthing for you to receive if you arestudying Vajrayana. Direct intro-duction does not exist in ordinaryVajrayana teaching, but there aremany kinds of initiations. Whatdoes initiation really mean?Initiation means that in a pure dimen-sion we receive transmission fromDharmakaya to Sambhogakaya, andpeople who have a high level ofrealization can participate and havepure vision. These people alsoreceive this kind of transmission.All Tantric initiation teachings arerelated with Mahasiddhas. AMahasiddha means someone whohas realized a high level of realiza-tion; maybe they are not yet fullyrealized, but they have capacity andcontact with pure vision. Ordinary people live in a conditionof karmic vision; karmic vision isrelated with our five sense organs.If you want to see something youneed to open your eyes. If some-thing is in front of you can say, “Yesthis is blue, this is green, this isred”. You can understand and seeall this karmic vision. Karmicvision means we have produced thepotentiality of karma, and with thispotentiality we have this vision. Forexample, now we are human beingsand we have this human vision. Ifwe are devas, we have a differentvision. If we have animals, we havedifferent vision. This vision is notalways the same vision as humanbeings. Visions are related with our condi-tion of karma, not something con-crete outside. If one person sees alamp, for example, all people seethe lamp and do not argue if it is alamp or not. If you live with humankarmic vision, other human beingslive in the same way. We have acommon human vision. Maybe ifwe asked a dog how this candlelooks, for example, unfortunatelythe dog cannot reply, but if the dogcould reply, maybe it sees some-thing different. It does not alwayssee the same thing as we do. That isthe reason Buddha said, “Everythingis unreal and does not exist concrete-ly”. Some people say this is logical.We think everything becomesemptiness, but in the real sense it isnot that way. We see because welive in our karmic vision. In the realsense everything is emptinessbecause it comes from our poten-tiality of karma. In the Dzogchen teaching there is anice example of a very nice river,and near the river there is a nicegarden. In the garden there is a kindof meeting of the beings of the six

lokas; devas, some human beings,some pretas, and some hell realmbeings. The six lokas have six dif-ferent conditions. The humanbeings see a very nice river and avery nice garden, but the represen-tative of the pretas doesn’t see theriver or the very nice garden. Thepreta does not see this because ithas no cause, it still lives in thevision of preta. If there is a deva,maybe the deva sees and enjoysmuch more than a human being.That is an example of how some-thing concrete outside does notexist. For practitioners who followDzogchen, this is really very impor-tant knowledge. I repeat this hun-dreds and hundreds of times when Igive teachings for many people.People have so many problems andmany strong tensions. I say to thesepeople to remember what Buddhasaid; he said everything is unrealjust like a dream. Even if you havea bad dream, when you wake upyou discover that was only dream.Then you have no problem. If we know our real condition isunreal, it doesn’t mean we don’t doanything because it is unreal. Forexample, if I do not cook today andI say everything is unreal, I alsohave an unreal stomach with unrealhunger. It is relative, so I need to dosomething to overcome that prob-lem. I do something but I know inthe real sense it is unreal; if youhave that knowledge then you donot have tensions.In general people feel very afraidand have many tensions and manystrong attachments. They do nothave that knowledge. I tell peoplewho have followed the teaching formany years that they should go alittle more concretely into thatknowledge. Concretely doesn’tmean that you sit and chant mantrasfor many hours. We need to under-stand what is most important. Ourmind is related with our tensions,our thoughts, and we are alwaysjudging, thinking and applyingsomething, so it is very importantwe have that kind of knowledge.This is something very important indaily life. In the Dzogchen teach-ing, first of all it is very important tohave this knowledge in order to dis-cover our real nature. This is also adistinguishing characteristic of theteachings.Some people are always confusedand say that Vajrayana Tantrism andDzogchen are the same. The finalgoal may be the same, but the wayof understanding and applicationare not, so you must distinguishthat. If you do not distinguish that itmeans you are confused. This isnegative, not positive. Some peoplesay because they practice Dzogchenthey can’t practice Tantra. We donot say that you cannot applyTantric practice; you can alwaysapply any kind of teaching. There isno limitation in the Dzogchenteaching. In the Dzogchen teachingmost important when we are learn-ing is our attitude. We should workwith our circumstances, which kindof circumstances you have andwhat kind of possibility. Thatmeans that if you are thirsty youneed to drink, not eat. If it is a nicedrink or not is another question. Inthe same way, it means that youshould know how to work with cir-cumstances. If you have a reallynice dress, it is not necessary youmake a collection of dresses. If youreally need something then you useit without limits. It is very importantthat you know that.

Transcribed by Jim Valby Edited by Naomi Zeitz

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu at the Barcelona RetreatExcerpted from Day 1 October 26, 2006

One of my most important teachers and my rootteacher is Changchub Dorje. Many people don’tunderstand what a root teacher means. Once a

Western woman told me that her root teacher was the16th Karmapa, but that she also wanted to receive someteachings and clarification from me. I said I could helpand asked her what she needed. I understood that she hadalready received some important teachings from theKarmapa, but when I asked her which kind of teachingshe had received so I could clarify things more precisely,she said that she had never met the Karmapa. This sur-prised me. She had never met the Karmapa, yet shethought he was her root teacher. Later I discovered thatshe had chosen him; she chose him among many famousand important teachers. She decided that the Karmapawas her root teacher. A root teacher doesn’t mean that. I received manyDzogchen teachings, not only Vajrayana teachings, butvery important teachings from my two uncles, whowere very important teachers. I also received Dzogchenteachings from many other teachers, but I do not consid-er any one of them my root teacher. I studied manyyears in college where we studied Buddhist philosophy.Later I received many initiations and teachings from theSakyapa, Kagyüpa and Nyingmapa traditions. At thattime I thought I knew everything. I did not have muchidea what a root teacher meant. I thought I could choosewho my root teacher was or maybe they were all myroot teachers. The Chinese government had invited. me to a meetingso after finishing college I went to China. I stayedalmost three years and taught Tibetan and studiedChinese. While I was at the university, I had an interest-ing dream of a quiet place where there was a kind ofyogi. My father and I met this yogi and he gave us a ablessing and some advice. My father and I did what theyogi said. I felt that this place in my dream was a veryimportant place. I thought that I must discover thisteacher, so I sent a letter to my father asking him to tryto discover this yogi and I said that it was important forboth of us. My father did some research, but he could-n’t discover the yogi. Then the revolution started. In that period I wanted to go back to my country, but theChinese government would not give me permission. Ithen sent a letter to my family telling them to say [to thegovernment] that my mother was very ill and that beforeshe dies she wants to see me. My family sent a telegramsaying this and I showed it to the government, and thenthe government gave my younger brother and me per-mission to go. We finally returned. They gave us onlyone month’s permission and after one month we wouldhave to go back. We went to the house of our family and after two weeksa person came who worked for a noble family of Derge.He was talking about a yogi, a very interesting Tibetandoctor. He spoke of this doctor because a woman fromthe noble family he worked for was dying, and the fam-ily felt very heavy. The family invited many doctors butthey couldn’t cure her. They searched for this specialdoctor and they sent this man to go and find the yogi.The man said that the yogi lives in a very interestingplace where there are many white houses and many stu-pas. When I heard that I became interested, because inmy dream there was something similar.I asked this man what the yogi looked like, which kindof dress he wore, etc. It really seemed like the yogi ofmy dream. I told my father and we prepared and went tosee this yogi; in two days we prepared everything andleft with two of my sisters and my mother. When wefinally saw this yogi it seemed like I already knew him.The place corresponded perfectly to how it had been inmy dream. I felt a little uncomfortable at the beginning,because until that moment I had always gone to see veryelegant teachers. Most teachers either dressed likemonks or had a very nice presentation. This yogi did nothave a nice presentation. He had a dress of a skin justlike the ordinary people of the village, long hair tied onhis head, and two earrings of conch shell. His presenta-tion was only a little different from ordinary people. Ithought that this was a strange way of manifesting, butI had no any doubt [this was the yogi] because I haddreamed him in very much the same way. In general in Tibet, when you go to important teachers,they give a teaching and you stay there for many weeksand receive teachings. I spent one month withChangchub Dorje, but he did not give any teaching. Heasked me if I studied medicine and I said yes, I studiedthe Four Medical Tantras twice. He said that now Ishould apply them. I said that I had studied but did nothave any time to apply them. Sometimes I would gowith his students on the mountain to pick herbal medi-cines and discovered many herbal medicines that way.Then he asked me to do moxibustion and blood letting.At the beginning I was afraid because I had neverapplied this before, but there were some very clever stu-dents who helped me and after some weeks I could

apply everything. My teacher was happy when I did thisbut I was not happy because I was not receiving anyteaching. There was going to be an important anniversary day ofPadmasambhava and so I asked him to give me a Tantricinitiation of his terma of shitro. He said, “You don’tneed an initiation”. I said, “Why don’t I need it?” Hesaid he had given me the initiation the night of the firstday I arrived in my dream. He said he had given the ini-tiation after I had asked him and had taken a crystal rockcut in three places and chanted the mantra of three statesof the vajra and gave me the initiation.I said that was his dream, not mine, and I really needthat initiation. After I insisted, he finally accepted andgave me the initiation. The initiation was not really sovery difficult, but Changchub Dorje did not have muchqualification of study. When he was reading and writingin his terma books, he needed help. He was also doingvery strange things. I had received hundreds of initia-tions from different teachers and I knew very well howto do this initiation. He sang the melody very strangelyand not very precisely, so after a little while I thoughtmaybe it was better if I hadn’t asked him. He took solong to finish the initiation, and since this was a moreTantric style initiation, at the end we did a Ganapujaquickly. When we finished, I was very satisfied that Ireceived an initiation that was in connection to myteacher. I thanked him and told him I was very happy tohave received the initiation on this special day. I was getting ready to go home because evening wascoming, and my teacher asked what I was doing. I saidthat now I am going home, I received an importantteaching today and I am very happy. My teacher saidthat we should not go anywhere and to sit down. I wasa little surprised, but my father and I sat down and wait-ed. After a little while everyone else left and then theone person doing service for my teacher left.Changchub Dorje asked this person to close the doorand go away. Then he explained what Dzogchen reallymeans; Dzogchen is not an initiation, nor is it chantingmantras. Then he gave us direct introduction. I hadnever received this kind of teaching before from anyteacher. He introduced tawa, point of view and what itreally means, what gompa, application is, and finally Idiscovered that until that moment I had had a very niceidea and that everything I knew was only a constructionof my ego. Now my ego was collapsing and I finallydiscovered what Dzogchen means. Changchub Dorjespent two or three hours teaching, and in the beginningit was very easy to understand him because he talked ina normal way, but by the end it became a little difficultto understand because he is tertön and it became moredifficult to understand his words. He went ahead for ahalf an hour that way. Then he stopped and said weshould go and we went away. After this experience I understood what a root teacherreally means; after my introduction my knowledge ofthe teaching took on a different way of seeing and feel-ing. Teaching books that I had found very difficultbefore, like in the Sutra teaching, later took on a differ-ent meaning. Now I understood the real sense of theteaching, and that through the potentiality of theDzogchen teaching one is no more dependent on something, but one is living inside real knowledge. I discov-ered the value of a teacher, the teaching, etc., and alsothe value of the teachings I received before I met myroot teacher. I understood that a root teacher means one that openedeverything. In the Dzogchen teaching it is called gcigshes kun grol, gcig means unique, shes means to discov-er, so it means that when you discover one, you discov-er all. This is the potentiality of knowledge of theDzogchen teaching, and in that way you should under-stand what a teacher means, and also what a root teachermeans. The teacher introduces you and then you discov-er directly or indirectly, and finally you can also discov-er the value of the teacher and the teaching. This is oneof the most important points of teaching. My teacher Changchub Dorje received all traditions ofDzogchen Semde, Longde and Upadesha from histeacher who was a very famous teacher called AdzomDrugpa. I also received many important transmissionsfrom my woman teacher, Ayu Khandro. I received six orseven different kinds of teachings related mainly toDzogchen Upadesha from her. I received official trans-mission of Dzogchen Semde, Longde and Upadeshafrom a teacher called Negyab Rinpoche. NegyabRinpoche was a student and received all those transmis-sions from Kathog Situ Rinpoche. Kathog SituRinpoche was one of the most important students ofJamyang Khyentse Wangpo, the first Khyentse. Allthese teachers are unified in this lineage of transmission,along with other teachers. I also received many teach-ings through my dreams, special particular methods,and those are more extraordinary transmissions andvery near.

Transcribed by Jim ValbyEdited by Naomi Zeitz

THE ROOT MASTER, CHANGCHUB DORJEChNN Teaching continued from previous page

4

THE RETREATIN BRAZIL WITHCHÖGYAL NAMKHAI NORBU

November 3-7, 2006

by Julia Signer

Iam not sure where to begin, butmaybe I should start by talkingabout the love that I felt and that

increased each day of the retreat.Maybe I could start by talking aboutthe precious knowledge that Rin-poche transmitted and that increasedin me each day of the retreat. And Icould also start with the joy that I feltor by telling how the days that fol-lowed the retreat have made love,knowledge and joy more stable andpresent in my every breath.I will start with the first day.November 3, at 5pm. Rinpocheentered the teaching room. He start-ed talking about the three vajras, thestate of all enlightened beings. Hewas so clear and direct that itseemed that the breath of the entireone hundred-twenty people in theroom was suspended. This is how Ifelt, at least, while he was showingthe Om Ah Hum letters in Tibetanand connecting with everyone. Atthis point, I must express the greatgratitude I felt for this precious line-age and the compassion of all themasters that have brought this pureteaching to our time.The next morning we all gathered todance very early, guided by ourinstructor Nelida Saporiti, who washelping the old Vajra Dancersremember the Dance of the Six

Spaces of Samantabhadra. In thecenter of our mandala there was atransparent blue crystal. The energywas just inexplicable. We also hadclasses of the Dance of the ThreeVajras in the afternoon. It was reallya pure dimension, with all thesedakas and dakinis dancing, singingthe mantras, understanding the stepsor not, but always flowing in theenergy.About 10am every day, Rinpochestarted the teachings. He focused onAti Yoga, these high teachings, sodeep and true. He explained the dif-ferent points of view and theapproaches of Sutra, Tantra andDzogchen. He talked more aboutthe Dzogchen point of view, ofcourse. It seemed that Rinpoche wasteaching in more than one dimen-sion at time. The teachings were sosimple and deep that it seemed thathis dimension was embracing all ofus. There was silence before hiswords and inside his words, and thissilence was full of teachings, teach-ings that just got into my state andmade my mind open, empty andreceptive. The experience of beingin his presence is just like physics,in a way. Everything happens insideus, and we just grow in the experi-ence of our own state. We also had Yantra Yoga during theretreat. Fábio Andrico instructed uson the Nine Purification Breathingswith a long and detailed explana-tion. It was very precise and every-one who attended learned thebreathing very well. We also startedwith some of the Eight Movements,but we ran out of time.

The Ganapuja day was also a partyday. I doubt that there was a singleperson in the room that wasn’thappy. Rinpoche also blessed theTibetans flags (lungta) with theappropriate mantras and taught ushow to do it by ourselves. This isanother precious thing about ourVajra Master; he sets us free andteaches us how to do things on ourown. After the Ganapuja there was aparty. We are Brazilians, so therewas good music and everybodydanced and sang for about twohours, just celebrating the joy ofbeing. On the last day, Rinpoche talkedabout how to keep this state in ourdaily practice and how to integratethis practice for 24 hours a day.There were a great number of peo-ple lining up to say goodbye and“thank you” to Rinpoche. Rinpoche also visited our new prac-tice center and kindly named it“Lhundrubling”*. We are all veryhappy to have such a nice place topractice now under the blessing ofour precious Vajra Guru. May infi-nite benefits flow from all this.

* lhundrub ~ lhun grub ~ self-per-fected state, spontaneously present,infinite qualifications, infinitepotentiality of manifestations, pri-mordial potentiality, the final stateof the four Contemplations of theDzogchen Semde

by Beta DeBarge

According to the Tibetan Cal-endar, the Minor Combina-tion of Friday the 10th of

November was the “combination ofyouth: which brings happiness”. Inaddition, the Major Combination ofDod (wish or desire) says: “wishescan be realized”.Chögyal Namkhai Norbu chose tostart his first ever-teaching retreat inBuenos Aires in the afternoon ofthat auspicious Friday. We weresome one hundred-twenty people,some new, but mainly those whowere already Rinpoche’s students.The teachings took place in the con-cert hall of the InmaculadaConcepción College located in thecentral area of Buenos Aires. Thesetting for “Teachings for the ThirdMillennium” was solemn and ele-gant: Rinpoche giving teachingsfrom the stage beautifully decoratedwith flowers, students seated in darkred plush chairs. In four sessions of two hours wereceived the complete path ofDzogchen, the very essence of theteachings. First Rinpoche talked in avery condensed way about Sutra,Tantra and Dzogchen. He stressedthe point that we must understandclearly the characteristics of differ-ent paths and apply the methods in acorrect way. Rinpoche reminded us how fortu-nate indeed we were to receive theprecious Dzogchen teaching usingvarious examples. Among them, ina playful way, that of footballmatch: thousands of people areintensely involved in many such

activities, but very few people areinterested in teachings and trans-mission leading to total realization.On the second day of the retreatRinpoche explained how to workwith Dzogchen transmissionthrough the experiences of our threedoors: body, speech and mind. Aftera simple yet detailed explanation,we received the direct introductionthrough the experience of empti-ness. Rinpoche encouraged us touse this and other methods againand again in order have a preciseexperience of instant presence. He stressed the point that GuruYoga was the main practice ofDzogchen to connect with transmis-sion. Then he spoke of presence andawareness in daily life, giving manyexamples and advice how to makeour understanding something con-crete.At last, we received the transmis-sion of trilungs of many collectivepractices and explanation when toapply them according to differentlife circumstances. The retreat ended with a short prac-tice of Guru Yoga with the Song ofthe Vajra. Then most of the partici-pants followed Rinpoche to a sim-ple nearby restaurant where weshared a delicious lunch in a relaxedatmosphere. Afterwards Rinpocheplayfully performed Tibetan callig-raphy on paper napkins. When ayoung woman Sara, about to getmarried, asked Rinpoche to writesomething for her, he drew a hugepink heart. It was indeed a preciousweekend of profound teachings.Thank you, Rinpoche.

THE VAJRA ARMOR

In 2006 Chögyal Namkhai Norbu transmitted the veryprecious healing mantra several times called DorjeiKotrab. He explained: “Knowing that this is a veryimportant and essential healing mantra,Padmasambhava singled it out among all the differentkinds of mantras and concealed it as a terma at NamkeTrak, and later Dorje Lingpa discovered it. If you knowthis mantra you don’t need to go after ‘mantra healing’anymore, because this is the supreme ‘mantra healing’.With it, you can benefit others, as well as protect your-self.”This book contains all the complete and precise instruc-tions that are needed to use it properly and correctly. Italso contains an important mantra and invocation toavert negative consequences to your health and in par-ticular circumstances linked to a specific date.

TO ORDER GO TO:www.shangshungedizioni.it

TEACHINGS FOR THE THIRD MILLENNIUMRETREAT with CHÖGYAL NAMKHAI NORBU BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINANovember 10-12, 2006

Retreat Hall in BrazilRinpoche arrives in Buenos Aires

a shared vision with all otherhuman beings, and the beings thatinhabit this external environmentare undeniably real and concrete.However just as when we wakefrom sleep only a mental image ofthe dream remains and cannot begrasped as something concrete andreal, when eventually we die andour present visions disappear it willbecome clear that these presentvisions, which we conceive asundeniably concrete and real, arelike a dream. They abide only asmental images and cannot begrasped as real or concrete.If, in every circumstance of our life,we do serious mind training that isbased on the understanding of thisprinciple we will at last be able toloosen our strong attachment andthe endless fears, apprehension andworries that are related to thisattachment. In this way we shall be

content and satisfied by the livingconditions in which we find our-selves and be able to spend our lifein a relaxed way.

The Need to Be Content with OurLot

Another aspect that must definitelybe governed by our presence andawareness in every day of our life is‘being content with our lot’. Formost of us it is difficult to possessthe virtue of being content. Forexample, even if we have a stan-dard of living that allows us to ful-fil our immediate needs, such as ahouse in which to live, clothes, foodand other primary necessities, stillwe are not satisfied with only thisand wish to have at least the sameor a better standard of living thanour friends or others.

(for more read the book!)

Excerpt from On Birth, Life and Death by ChNN contined from next page

ON BIRTH, LIFE AND DEATHCHÖGYAL NAMKHAI NORBUPublished by Shang Shung Editions, Italy@ 2006

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu’s book On Birth Life andDeath contains a concise and precise outline ofhow human life originates, of the nature of our

physical structure and components, and how to maintainour health and wellbeing during life, as well as how todie with awareness and even how to be reborn in the bestpossible status. It offers the inspiration to study the top-ics contained much more deeply, while at the same timegiving extremely concrete counsel, which can be put toimmediate use. Since at the end of birth and life, inevitably death fol-lows, we will need to know as clearly as we know howto take care of the body in this life how to take care ofthe passage through the bardo into the next one. In thisbook it all seems so matter-of-fact, so clear, that itinspires great confidence with its essential advice,pointing the way towards deeper knowledge of our con-dition.For those of us with no or very limited knowledge ofTibetan medicine, there are challenging aspects to thebook, and although it is quite interesting as a practicalguide, there is clearly much more to study. It opens adoor into a world of knowledge and what for many maybe a new understanding of our human life. As a diagramof the structure of life itself, it is priceless. This could bethe first book written to contain the Tibetan medicalview of life, based on the medical tantras and theauthor’s own experience, including a practical guide forthe birth process, living, and dying, within the outlookof Dzogpa Chenpo.

“The different types of body constitution of the child areformed through the condition of the Humours andOrganic Components of the parents, the diet and behav-ior adopted by the mother during pregnancy and vari-ous other interdependent factors.”

The Humours and the Organic Components togetherform the basis of the body, and these have a connectionwith the three emotions, of attachment, anger and igno-rance. Thus begins the description of the intricate seriesof interconnected factors that determine the particularbirth, life and death of each human being. The authorlays out in great detail in this section where the seat ofeach humour is, and what its function is, and how thenature of these relates to all our activities of the threegates of body, voice and mind. The psychology of theindividual is formed not only through heredity andexperiences during and after birth, but by all the compo-nents of its existence. An awareness of these and theirqualities can greatly augment other fields of humanknowledge and self-discovery.

“During childhood the individual’s body is mainly dom-inated by Phlegm, during adulthood, mainly by Bile,and during old age, mainly by Wind, and these periodsof life are closely related to the factors that cause ill-ness.”

As the book progresses, and moves from the descriptionof childbirth and how to care for a newborn baby itexplains clearly how much what we do in our lives mat-ters, in all aspects- from thoughts, to actions, from whatwe eat to when we eat, from prenatal or birth conditionsto seasonal changes, and that each factor plays a realrole in our health and in our capacity to live fully, and tobe able to accomplish our aims. The factors that produceillness include not only what we are doing now, in thisperiod in our lives, but may arise from excesses or lacksin the past, and these can be addressed by understandingand rebalancing through diet, behavior and therapiesand medicines.

The author points out the influences of lifestyle andenvironment, which can either support good health andmind or produce imbalances and problems for the indi-

vidual. Here he has given several charts of the foods weeat and their properties, explaining in each case whythey are either useful or not and what qualities each con-tains. Even if one managed to resist this as a guidelineto actually base the diet on, one cannot help but becomemore aware after reading it of the qualities contained infoods. Detailed advice is given as to how to achieve aharmonious balance of the three humours in all ways,through one’s attitude, behavior, and above all throughcontinually developing an awareness of one’s condition. The most important aspect is the continual developmentof real awareness and presence in one’s daily life. The advice to give up our selfish attitudes and to try tofree ourselves of worry, is lovingly given- and also thatwe should try to learn to be content with our lot in life.After the explanation of the stages of life and what canhinder us and how to alter the course of illnesses andimbalances, there is a beautifully simple description ofthe mind, nature of mind, instant presence and AtiDzogpa Chenpo. Elio Guarisco, the chief translator,writes in his introduction, “Overall the book in anunprecedented, masterful, wise and compassionatemanner shows that the principle of presence and aware-ness should govern all circumstances of our life and thatthe same principle underlines the Dzogpa Chenpoteachings and practices.”

“Terror or fear of death is an evident sign of not havingbecome aware of the nature of the human condition.”

The last section contains counsel on the last of our life’sprospects, death itself. There are extensive descriptionsof the various signs and stages of the death process andthe dissolution of the elements, the necessary advice togive the dying person. There is a stage-by-stage descrip-tion of the bardo and states of death, and how one canliberate in each and how to help to guide the dead. Infact, by the time one reaches this point in the book,death does seem to be very much a part of the continu-um, and even in reading through it, there is no surprisethat this advice is given in the same spirit as the dailylife advice.

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu finished this book inNovember 2001, enlarging the scope of a previous bookhe had written in 1983, called “On Birth and Life.” TheKater translation committee was responsible for thispublication, and it is the first of what it is to be hopedwill be many of such projects. The volume also containsthe Tibetan text for those who can read it.

Review by Lauri Denyer

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 6 5

book review The Need to Diminish Our Selfishness

Every human being always wants tobe happy and to avoid suffering.Every day we use much of our ener-gy to achieve this goal. However wedo not correctly understand whatthe primary and secondary causesfor the arising of happiness andwhat the primary and secondarycauses of suffering are. Thus inaddition to not accomplishing thevarious forms of happiness wedesire in the appropriate way wecreate unwanted suffering and othermishaps. Just as we wish to behappy all others too wish for happi-ness. Just as we do not want toexperience any suffering others toodo not wish to experience any suf-fering. In this regard, we are similar.However, we are so dominated bystrong attachment due to our self-ishness that it is difficult for us evento recognise that we are selfish, andwhen we are unhappy or have someproblem we look and search forsomeone to blame. Even when it iswe who have behaved wrongly, inall possible ways we try to proveourselves innocent, through variousdirect and indirect reasons, and toaccuse, directly or indirectly, some-one we do not like and concentrateour efforts in increasing our selfish-ness even more than before. Thisselfish attitude is definitely the soleorigin of all our conflicts: personal,group, racial, religious and betweennations. A traditional proverb says:

To see others we have eyes,But to see ourselves we need a mirror.

Accordingly, before accusing otherswe must observe our own attitude alittle. In this way, our obsessive self-ishness will loosen and we will beable to properly respect others’dimension and socialise with othersmore easily. We will also clearlyunderstand that the stresses due tothe accumulation of a great numberof needless worries and great orsmall anxieties on matters we attrib-ute a lot of importance to is nothingbut our own fault. In this way thestress will unravel itself and vanishin its own condition. Diminishingone’s selfishness has the furthermerit of becoming a perfect circum-stance for the birth, within us, ofauthentic bodhicitta, the genuine(wish) to benefit others.

The Need to Free Ourselves ofWorries

We crave and cling to all the beauti-ful things of this world; at the sametime we are irritated and feel aver-sion towards things that are ugly.This dualism gives birth within usto hopes, fears and worries of vari-ous kinds that are utterly needlessand we spend most of our life undertheir influence. We not only passour life in this way, these conditionsalso bring us endless unhappinessand suffering of body, speech andmind, and when these difficultiespresent themselves we struggle withthem directly without the least con-sideration of the primary and sec-ondary causes that have producedthem. Needless to say, this habitdoes not become a factor for solvingthe problems; rather it definitelybecomes a factor that increasesthem further, like adding wood tofire.Any problem that actually manifeststo us is the result of previous specif-ic primary and secondary causesthat are conditioned by dualism;

thus however much we contendwith that manifest result it can neverbecome a means to free ourselvesfrom that problem. Therefore,always maintaining awareness ofstable certainty that the primary andsecondary causes, which are thebase of such kinds of problem, lie inthe strong dualism rooted in ourmind it is necessary to apply per-sonally the appropriate method foreliminating the problem.As long as we depend on and live inthis body made of flesh and bloodthere is no person that does notundergo the suffering of physicalillness etc., the disturbance of the(five) elements and the arising ofemotions such as craving and angerin the mind. But if we have continu-ity of presence and awareness ofwhat the nature of these problemsis, we will not become governed bythem and we will be able to freeourselves without difficulty, as wellas be able effortlessly to free our-selves from the great anxieties (thatmay result).In every respect, this correspondswith what occurs, for example,when during dreams we have whilesleeping we experience unhappi-ness and suffering or are oppressedby a great fear. The sensations ofbody, speech and mind we feel atthat time are identical to those weactually experience during the day.However, if our dream is governedby presence and awareness as soonas we recognise that we are dream-ing, even though the dream imagesdo not cease the feeling of fear van-ishes spontaneously in its ownnature. We should not think, “Whatsimilarity is there between life andthe dream state? The dream consistsof illusory visions occurring duringsleep while the vision of our humanlife is concrete, thus the two cannotbe alike at all”. In reality, the condi-tion of our life and the nature of thedreams that occur while we areasleep differ only in their durationbut are not fundamentally different.And this is the reason why, in orderfor practitioners of the path tounderstand the fundamental condi-tion of unreality of what manifestsin life on the basis of recognition ofthe nature of dream there arose thesystem of training in various dreampractices at night while sleeping.

The Nature of the Dream

All possible forms of suffering,such as illness, that we undergo inlife and that are related to our mate-rial body of flesh and blood areexperienced within this body offlesh and blood concretely formedof coarse elements. In the dreamstate, the eye and other sense organsof our material body together withthe sense consciousnesses withdrawinternally and no longer experiencetheir sense objects or perform theirrespective functions: this is called‘sleep’. While our material bodycontinues to sleep, after a while themental consciousness awakensfrom sleep and depends on the sup-port of the eye (sense conscious-ness) and other sense conscious-nesses: this is called the ‘mentalbody’. Depending on particulartemporary circumstances thereoccur various vicissitudes that giverise to happiness or suffering: theseare called ‘dreams’. Whatever feel-ings of happiness or suffering weexperience until the moment ofwaking up or until we recognise thedream as such, manifest exactly like(those) we have during the day. The world of the external environ-ment in which we live, that exists as

Excerpt from On Birth, Life and Death by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

continued on previous page

Dear Friends,

We are coming to the end of2006 and I would like tothank you for everything

that you have helped us to achievewith your generous support.2006, however, was also a difficultyear during which ASIA felt theeffects of the crises that have struckall levels of governmental institu-tions and brought about heavy cutsin funding for cooperation. Many ofthe projects that were presented didnot obtain the financing that hadbeen hoped for and a great numberof interventions requested by localcommunities were not realized.It is for this reason that I am writingto you today: I would like to ask youto take up the challenge to build aprimary school with us in the villageof Derge, in a very poor area in theTibetan region formerly called“Kham”, where the population stilllives according to the rhythms andcustoms of nomadic life.A school will help to preserve andspread Tibetan cultural and linguis-tic traditions and encourage

nomadic families to send us theirchildren. In fact the rate of illiteracyin this area is very high due to boththe excessive costs of school feesand the lack of educational facili-ties. Khempo Sonam, abbot of theGomchen Monastery in Derge, con-cerned about the cultural impover-ishment of his people and wishingto preserve traditional culture andteachings, has already started to takein orphans and children from thepoorest nomadic families. With thehelp of two teachers who also comefrom the monastery, the abbot hasstarted to give them a basic educa-tion in a run-down building used asa school for the occasion. I met Khempo Sonam about a yearago and promised him ASIA’s help.The project for the construction ofthis school will cost a total of150,000 euro. This is a promisemade to the Abbot and the localpopulation that we absolutely wishto keep, seeing as the school couldaccommodate and teach more than200 Tibetan children.The feasibility study has alreadybeen prepared: the buildings will be

constructed in traditional Tibetanarchitectural style and using biocli-matic technology that will maxi-mize energy efficiency and solarcollection. They will include a dor-mitory, classrooms, a kitchen andaccommodation for the teachers.The school will also provide educa-tional material to the children. Theyoung students will study in a prop-er and comfortable environment;they will not lose their cultural rootsand will be able to hand them downin the future.If we manage to carry out this proj-ect together, your name will appearin the book for the inauguration ofthe school and any of you whowould like to do so may go there fora visit.Thank you and all best wishes atChristmas from the ASIA Onlusstaff and from all the beneficiariesof the projects.

Andrea Dell’AngeloSecretary-General ASIA Onlus

DONATIONS CAN BE MADETO:

ASIA Onlus Italian Post Officeaccount n. 89549000;

ASIA Italian bank current accountn. 3893.50 at the Monte dei Paschidi Siena Bank IBAN: IT 27 M01030 72160 000000389350 SWIFT BIC: PASC IT MM GRO

Credit Card: On our website: www.asia-onlus.org

Payment can also be made to:ASIA USAAndrea Nasca Email: andreamnasca@yahoo.comTel: 001/413369/4153ASIA Germany Gisela AuspurgEmail: gina.auspurg@gmx.deTel: 0049/8954035530

As ‘reason of payment’please write:DONATION FOR DERGESCHOOL

6

DERGE SCHOOL

Derge County Present Derge School

The classes Building area for the school

The children of Derge School

INTERNATIONALLOTTERY UPDATE

THE INTERNATIONAL LOT-TERY that Rinpoche has pre-pared with much love and work,offering his own items in order toraise the money for consolidatingthe basement of the Gonpa ofMerigar and for constructing a carpark, two urgent projects thatneed to be done within next year,continues. You can find the pres-entation of the lottery made byRinpoche on Norbunet togetherwith the various payment meth-ods. The tickets cost 100, 50 or 25Euros. If you are interested youcan get the tickets from RitaBizzotto and pay Merigar directlywith the new, easy, fast and freeway of payment by credit cardthat has been set up.

You can find all the information atthe Merigar West web site:<http://62.149.193.71:61000/pages/donate.php> under the tabcalled “donate” on the left mainmenu.

You can also take part in the proj-ects by making donations. Itwould also be helpful to spreadthis information, maybe before acollective practice, for example,and inquire in your area if thereare other practitioners interested.Then you could send a list withnames, how many tickets needed,the price, collect the money andsend it to Rita (ritabiz@tiscali.it).If people pay altogether it savesMerigar money.

Thank you for your cooperation, All the best Rita Bizzotto

Errata

Omission from the article calledBeing Active Sangha atNamgyalgar Santi Maha Sanghain Daily Life by Angela Sands,page 15 of Mirror issue 82:

Donations and Applications

If you wish to make a donation tothe SMS Scholarship program, orwould like to apply for one of theScholarships, please contacteither of our SMS TeachersAngie Gilbert and EliseStutchbury, or the SMSScholarship Committee Co-ordi-nator Joanna Tyshing.

Angie Gilbert SMS Base LevelInstructor + 61 02 4476 8138,alangie@aapt.net.auElise Stutchbury SMS BaseLevel Instructor + 61 0244718578, elise777@austarnet.com.au. Joanna Tyshing SMS ScholarshipCommittee Coordinator,

TOURS TO

TIBETAND KAILASH

If anyone would like tomake a tour to Tibet andKailash please contact

Topgyal at Merigar. Email:mess2gontseolo@yahoo.com, Tel: 0039 333 88 767 22

by Jacqueline Gens

Looking back to 1994, at theinauguration of Shang ShungInstitute of America at

Tsegyalgar, it seems light yearsaway from that shining momentwhen the international DzogchenCommunity gathered to celebratethis event in Conway, MA and theopening of the schoolhouse, whichcoincided with the first Santi MahaSangha Base Level Exam. I stillhave a tape of that event I occasion-ally listen to for inspiration, espe-cially when I feel my dedication islagging. For me, those days plantedthe seeds of a lifetime commitment. If ever there was an example of theproverbial tale of the Tortoise andthe Hare, the development of ShangShung Institute of America exempli-fies this slow but steady marchtoward accomplishment fueled bythe intense dedication of ChögyalNamkhai Norbu’s commitment topreserve Tibetan culture and thegenerosity of community donorswho believed and still believe in thisnoble mission. In writing this articlefor the Mirror, I hope to instill somesmall confidence that all is well andto remind our Community that weall know the outcome of this fable. In retrospect, some of us might havewished for a speedier course ofaction. Nonetheless, for me person-ally, the journey has been wellworth the wait in terms of patienceand hard work. The results have farexceeded my expectations of howfar an organization can go based onthe grassroots level of cooperationand sheer energy, perhaps a curren-cy as precious as gold itself. Whileour Tortoise has many miles to gotoward reaching its goal, for the firsttime, we have spotted it in the dis-tance. Slow and steady, we continuethe journey onwards around anobstacle course of numerous chal-lenges, financial limitations, andadministrative failings. Still, themood is a happy one these days.Here at the Shang Shung Institute ofAmerica we’ve been having a greatautumn in terms of the develop-ment of our traditional TibetanMedicine program. Amazingly, ourfirst cohort of students are seriouslypreparing for their final exams forthe conclusion of their third semes-ter. They are Slawek Kosciuk amedical doctor from Poland; JoeyMella, a student at HampshireCollege; Malcolm Smith, a transla-tor and also Tibetan languageinstructor in the program; MatthewSchmookler from Berkeley,California; Mira Weil, a massagetherapist from Williamsburg, MA.and her mother, Anasuya Weil. InFebruary 2007, they will begin theirfourth semester of an eight-semesterprogram along with a new group ofincoming students undertaking therigorous curriculum designed by Dr.

Phuntsog Wangmo, the directorof the four-year program.These days it seems week-ly that new applicationsare coming in via ouronline applicationform.Attendance has beenparticularly strongwith a 100% studentretention. Our six stu-dents are flourishing intheir course of studytoward becoming doctors

in the ancient traditionof Tibetan medicine.This is largely due tothe dedication andexpertise of Dr.Phuntsog who hasworked tirelessly tocreate a rigorous cur-riculum taught inEnglish based on thesame course of studyshe herself experi-enced at LhasaU n i v e r s i t y ’ sTraditional TibetanMedicine program andher personal studiesfor many years under the guidanceof Khenpos Troru Tsenam andGyaltsen, two of Tibet’s foremostdoctors who are credited with therevival of Tibetan Medicine withinTibet under the Chinese. I know ofno Westerner who could, in thespace of four short years learnTibetan, and then teach a universitylevel course in Tibetan. We are veryproud of her achievements, keenintellect and the warmth and kind-ness she brings to her students. Butit is also due to the students them-selves who have applied their mindsand hearts with enormous dedica-tion toward creating a real learningcommunity within the greaterTsegyalgar community of practi-tioners. Their presence has infusedthe schoolhouse with the livelyenergy of camaraderie that createsthe joyful conditions for transform-ing their studies into a living tradi-tion. I am humbled by their deepenthusiasm for a course of study thatI have long held in high esteem.Although often in serious financialstraits, they have proved resourcefuland mutually helpful to one anotherthat is an inspiration. All of us on theShang Shung board of directors aredeeply grateful for the administra-tive help they have contributedtoward the running of their owncourse. In many ways, the boldcommitment of this first cohort ofstudents, in it for the long haul,marks a contribution to the continu-ity of Tibetan medicine for future

generations as they test the waters ofan innovative pedagogy created byDr. Wangmo but also shaped bytheir own collaborative involve-ment. In August, the Shang ShungInstitute of America applied for alicense from the MassachusettsBoard of Education to operate as apost secondary proprietary school.To date, we have passed all the pre-liminary financial audits and coursecontent reviews, and are awaitingfinal approval. Enormous effortover the past few years from allfronts went into creating the condi-tions for completing this process.This credential signals a momentousleap in our efforts toward eventualaccreditation of the Shang ShungInstitute of America as a school oftraditional Tibetan medicine. Thefuture realization of this long-termgoal will offer our students manyopportunities including federallyfunded financial aid options, recog-nition of their degree from anaccredited school, and institutionalcredibility for international studentvisas. This in turn may provide effi-cacy to the practice of Tibetan med-icine in America as a legitimatehealing tradition. As there is currently no nationalcommission on standards in thefield of Tibetan medicine training inthe US, Dr. Phuntsog and her col-leagues in America are attemptingto establish such an organizationthat will have far ranging impact on

educational programming in train-ing future doctors of traditionalTibetan medicine in the UnitedStates where there are already manyfully trained Tibetan doctors in res-idence. We commend and supporttheir efforts. She has also organ-ized a symposium of seniorTibetan doctors to provide furthertraining to younger doctors of hergeneration while they are able to

pass on their invaluable experi-ence and knowledge. This initiativeis an extremely important key to fur-

thering the transmission ofTibetan medical knowledgeand I strongly urge anyoneseriously interested in thefuture of Tibetan medicineto support this proposal sothat it takes place as plannedin the Fall of October 2007.Shortly, we will announcethe details of this interna-tional symposium. If ever there was a time tosupport the Shang ShungInstitute of America both inspirit and financial contribu-tions, now is the time. Thereis so much to do given our

current agenda. Just when I think itmight be time for me finally to retireand move on to other projectsinvolving my own work, a newincentive arises to lure me back intothe arena of my karma yoga obliga-tions. It’s not always easy - some-times I go willingly, at other times,quite reluctantly. However, experi-encing the depth of learning hap-pening at present through theTibetan medicine program has beenthe greatest reward for all ourefforts. For me personally, it repre-sents a milestone in my administra-tive life to see that true collaborationis the greatest foundation for endur-ing qualities. While money andorganizational structures are great interms of institutional development,the spirit underlying our efforts isthe real glue to carry us throughthick and thin. I remain deeplygrateful to Chögyal Namkhai Norbufor teaching me this principle andmy colleagues and our students forreinforcing this point of view. Over the past year, the Institute hascontinued to grow. We are expand-ing our staff, and have taken stepstoward a more developed collabora-tion and integration with InstitutoShang Shung in Italy, and the ShangShung Institute of Austria, so thatour local projects and initiatives canbecome global. We have thus con-solidated and expanded our fund-raising initiatives for translators andare developing other ongoing col-laborative projects.

In order to bring Tibetan Culture toa larger public, a mission that is atthe heart of Chögyal NamkhaiNorbu’s vision, we have participat-ed in events such as Many Flavorsof the Dharma at Smith College, andhave launched a monthly series“Tibetan Medicine for Everyone”that covers the main topics and ideasin Tibetan medicine, taking place onthe third Friday of every month atour Northampton healing center,where Tibetan medicine consulta-tions and Kunye massage sessionsare offered on a regular basis. ThisMay, HHDL is planning to visit thePioneer Valley to inaugurate aTibetan Studies certificate programoffered by the five colleges of thisregion. Over the past decade, wehave seen an increased interest inTibetan culture that we have partici-pated in on the local communitylevel going back to Shang Shung’sfounding of an annual TibetAwareness Day a decade ago. WithDr. Phuntsog Wangmo’s residenceat Tsegyalgar, our contact withTibetan culture through the greaterTibetan community has become aliving reality. As we enter the New Year and atransitional period of increaseddevelopment, we are faced withchallenges ranging from establish-ing administrative infrastructuresfor actually running an authenticschool, fundraising for additionalfaculty, staff and student support,recruitment for our programs, aswell as contributing to the mainte-nance of the schoolhouse buildingitself to house multiple classes. Weespecially wish to thank the Gakyilof the Dzogchen Community ofAmerica for their generous $50,000grant and long standing hospitalitythat ensures the realization of ourgoals for continuing to expand ourmission to support the preservationof Tibetan culture. We also wish toexpress our deepest gratitude to allof you who have made contribu-tions, past and present. In the “Necklace of Zhi”, written byChögyal Namkhai Norbu over thirtyyears ago, he set forth many of thethemes his work toward preservingTibetan culture would take. ToTibetans, this document is a soberchallenge for them to look towardtheir own culture for sustenance andstewardship. For those of us whohave benefited so enormously fromTibetan culture, it is a reminder thatwe have some obligation here too.Just as many Tibetans from theancient past traveled and suffered atgreat length to receive teachings andpreserve their knowledge, our smallsacrifices seem insignificant. Butthey are not. Here at Shang Shung Institute ofAmerica, we welcome you to shareour journey in whatever capacityyou can.

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 6 7

shang shung institute

Shang Shung Institute of America: Past & Present from a Personal Perspective

May all beings be healthy.We are now accepting applications for the Spring 2007 enrollment in America’s first four-year,

English language Traditional Tibetan Medical Program.

Apply on line at ShangShung.org or call 413 369 4928.

Shang Shung Institute of AmericaPreserving Tibetan Culture ShangShung.org

18 Schoolhouse Rd. Conway, MA 01341 Tel: 413 369 4928

SHANG SHUNG INSTITUTE STORE /AUSTRIAMORE USER FRIENDLY!!!

To order from the online store of the Shang Shung Institute has now becomemore advanced and easier for all users. From now on you can register your-self and in that way you do not have to fill in all personal details with everyorder - you just do it once and that’s it. We offer books, DVD’s, CD’s, incens-es, products of Men-Tsee Khang, Buddhists statues and many others usefulthings. Please have a look and enjoy!

Happy Holidays!

Very best wishes,Oliver F. LeickShang-Shung Institutewww.ssi-austria.at

Dr Phuntsog Wangmo M SMITH

11th Month, 30th day Fri. Jan. 19 2007

DARK MOON This isan excellent day to dopurification practice so tryto do the Purification of theSix Lokas and a Ganapuja in theevening.

12th Month,10th day Sun. Jan. 28 2007

This day is the anniversary of GuruPadmasambhava’s coronation asPrince of Orgyen at the invitation ofKing Idrabhodi. We can perform aGanapuja collectively or do theLong-life practice, “UniversalWisdom Union” either collectivelyor personally, according to circum-stances.

12th Month,11th day Mon. Jan. 29 2007

This is a good day to do a Mediumor Long Thun with an intensivepractice of the mantra of Ekajati.

12th Month, 15th day Fri. Feb. 2 2007

FULL MOON This is in general aday for honoring the Lord Buddha,and in particular an ideal day for theLong-life practice of GuruAmitayus, “Union of PrimordialEssences”. If possible try to do acollective Ganapuja with your Vajrabrothers and sisters in the evening.

12th Month, 18th day Mon. Feb. 5 2007

This is the anniversary ofthe great Dzogchen master

Longchen Rabjam(Longchenpa, 1306-1363). On

this very important day try to do theGuruyoga Akar Lamai Naljor,Guruyoga with the White A, eithercollectively or personally.

12th Month, 25th day Mon. Feb. 12 2007

Dakini Day. This is very positiveday for reinforcing your energy andcreating a stronger contact with theenergy of the universe so try to do acollective Ganapuja with your Vajrabrothers and sisters. If that is notpossible, try to do a Medium Thunalone. In either case recite the heartmantra of Ekajati as many times aspossible.

12th Month, 30th day Sat. Feb. 17 2007

Today is the last day of the Fire Dogyear. It is a special day for purifica-tion practices so try to do“Purification of the Six Lokas” asmuch as possible. You should alsotry to do a Ganapuja with your Vajrabrothers and sisters.

TIBETAN NEW YEAR FIRE BOAR

The MirrorNewspaper of the

InternationalDzogchen Community of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

Main Office:PO Box 277

Conway, MA01341USA

Tel: 413 369 4208Fax: 413 369 4473

Email: mirror@tsegyalgar.org

European Office:The Mirror

MerigarArcidosso58031 GR

ItalyEmail: lizmirror@tiscalinet.it

Tel: 39 3298865292 Fax: 39 0564- 968 110

Editorial Staff:Naomi Zeitz,Tsegyalgar

Conway, MAUSA

Liz Granger Merigar

Arcidosso, Italy

Literary Editor:John Shane

Advisors:Des Barry

Adriano ClementeAnna Eid

Barbara PaparazzoJim Valby

International Blue Gakyil Advisor:

Fabio AndricoInternational Publications

Committee English Language Advisor:

Liz Granger

Layout & Design:N. Zeitz

Illustrations:Fire Dog by Bepe Goia pg 8Cartoon pg 5 by Jan Golden

Web Site Managers:Thomas Eifler

Malcolm Smith

Printer:Turley Publications

Palmer, MAUSA

Distribution:Tsegyalgar at

Conway,MA, USA

Subscription Rate/6 Issues:$35US available

throughTsegyalgar

35 Eurothrough Merigar

Visa and Master cardwelcome

ON LINE MIRRORON LINE MIRRORwwwwww.melong.com.melong.com

All material ©2006 by The Mirror

Reprint by permission onlyWe reserve the right to edit

all subsmissions

8

UPDATE FROM SHANG SHUNG INSTITUTEAUSTRIA

Dear Dzogchen Communities,Probably you have read in the Norbunet about all our activities regardingthe translation of Tibetan texts and Dzogchen Tantras.

Elio Guarisco, Adriano Clemente and Jim Valby really have been doingan excellent job for so many years now. Only due to their efforts, knowl-edge understanding, and devotion to the Master and the Teachings we areable to read these wonderful and extraordinary texts in a language that isunderstandable for us. Due to many individual donations and donationsfrom some Dzogchen Communities we could make the followingimprovements in this year:

* Monthly payments and pensionSince January 2006 we guarantee a fixed payment to the translators for thefirst time, which they did not have before. We also have installed a systemthat the translators will get a pension when they will be 68 years old. Thispayment is a great security for the translators as now they do not have toworry anymore if they can pay their bills next month or not.

* PublicationsIn summer 2006 the first of our translation works, the book “On Birth,Life and Death” was published by Shang Shung Editions, Italy. We planto have at least one book published every year. For next year the publica-tion of a very important Dzogchen Tantra is planned. The translators havebeen working on this text now for nearly 3 years. Also Adriano is goingto publish another book soon - a result of the project of “Complete Worksof Chögyal Namkhai Norbu”.

* Training for TranslatorsThis year we have finished the first series of trainings for translators fromTibetan, which lasted for four years and took place in Merigar andMargarita under the guidance of Elio Guarisco. About 15 to 20 translatorsfrom our community from all over the world participated in this uniquepossibility to study how to translate Dzogchen Tantras. Rinpoche wasvery happy with the result of these trainings. In 2007 there will start thenext series of trainings, probably with new students. Due to that activitythe DC hopefully will have more qualified translators from Tibetan in thenear future.

All these activities cost money. As the project manager of the Ka-terTranslation Project and the “Complete Works of Chögyal NamkhaiNorbu” I would like to ask you for your support. It would be great andextremely helpful if your community could financially support our activ-ities.You can submit your donations online through our web safe site:https://ssl13.inode.at/ssi-austria.at/creditcardoffering.htmFor more information on the Ka-ter Translation Project, please visithttp://www.ssi-austria.at/ssi-engl/ka-ter%20frame%20engl.htm or seewww.completeworks.info. Please do not hesitate to contact me if youhave any question.Thank you very much for your attention and your support,

Oliver LeickProject manager of the Translation ProjectsInternational Shang Shung Institute

special practice daysjanuary - february 2007

Tibetan Ku Nye MassageComo, Italy: January - June 2007 led by Aldo Oneto.Sponsored by The International Shang Shung Institute of Tibetan Studies

Aldo studied Ku Nye (Tibetan massage) courses organized by the ShangShung Institute. He has been astudent of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu for 30years.The course will take place over 9 weekends on the following dates:27-28 January 2007, 24-25 February 2007, 24-25 March 2007, 28-29April 2007, 26-27 May 2007, 23-24 June 2007

January 21, 2007 – Introduction and presentation of Ku Nye Massage at21.00 at the “Palestra Centro Como” Via S. Eutichio 322100 Como,Italy. Tel. 39 031-266443

Saturday 10.00 - 13.00 and 14.00 - 17.00Sunday 10.00 - 13.00 and 15.00 18.00

The last three weekends include revision, in-depth study and a final examwith a certificate will be held in September, October and November 2007on dates that still have to be confirmed. These final seminars have beenpurposely planned at a later date in order for students to practice theknowledge they have acquired.

Participation fee: 360 euro each three seminars to be paid at the beginningof each cycle. The fee includes teaching material: the text and DVD.

Venue: Palestra Centro ComoVia S. Eutichio 322100 ComoTel. 39-031-266443

Students should wear comfortable clothes and bring a large, medium andsmall towel. The course requires a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 20participants. Registration should be made before (no later than) 20January 2007.

To register and for information, please contact:Licia CattaneoVicolo Bazzoni 6Mob. 39 338 438048Tel. 39-031-305812

Antonella LambertiOlgiate Com’ascoTel. 39-031-990354 evenings only

Elisa Copello elisa_cop@libero.it or 39-338-7027207

Shang Shung InstituteTel: 39-0564-966940 (Mon.-Fri. 8.30-13.00 and 15.00-18.30)Località Merigar58031 Arcidosso (GR)ItalyEmail:courses@istitutoshangshung.or

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 6 9

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

C O M M U N I T Y N E W S

merigar westMerigar West

Arcidosso 58031GR Italy

Tel: 39 0564 966837Fax: 39 0564 968110

Email:merigaroffice@tiscalinet.itWebsite: www.dzogchen.it

Dear members of the DzogchenCommunity,

Thanks to the large support thatEuropean members have given toour Community, Merigar West hasfinally become financially inde-pendent. In fact, up till 2004 wewere less than 1,000 members whilefrom 2005 we are more than 2000.In order to maintain this highly pos-itive result, it is indispensable thatmembers continue to renew theirmembership also for the upcomingyear.

The 2007 membership fees willstay the same as the 2006 ones.

Ordinary membership fee: 129euro per year. It gives a 20% dis-count on retreats and courses*, freesubscriptions to the monthlyMerigar Letter online and the fourmonthly Merigar magazine.

Sustaining membership fee: 500euro. It gives 80% discount onretreats and courses* in Europe, freesubscription to the monthly MerigarLetter, Merigar magazine and TheMirror, free use of the personalretreat cabins at Merigar as well as a50% discount on the Video Journal.The change of the discount rate forsustaining members, in comparisonto the 2006 rate, derives from theproblems that many Gakyils havehad to cover the real costs of theorganization of retreats and events.Merigar West is a dynamic structurein continuous evolution. We hopethat sustaining members will under-stand the reason for this change.The Gakyil is always at your dis-posal for any further clarification.

Meritorious membership fee:1500 euro. It gives the same bene-fits as sustaining membership aswell as a 100% discount on allRetreats and courses* and on anynew publications from EdizioniShang Shung for the current year,plus a free subscription to the VideoJournal. It will also include a specialgift.

Reduced membership fee: 50euro. It is meant for Communitymembers with an income lowerthan 700 euro per month and gives a50% discount on courses* andRetreats.

For new members: the member-ship fee will be deducted from thecost of the first retreat in which thenew member participates. In thiscase the membership fee will be theCommunity’s welcoming gift.

All types of membership also givethe right to participate via webcastin Retreats given by ChögyalNamkhai Norbu abroad. As a gift,from 2007, all members will receivebasic membership in the ShangShung Institute, which will allowthem to purchase the audio-visualmaterial of the Institute.

In order to help our organization,membership should be registered nolater than March 31st, 2007.Membership is valid from January1st to December 31st, 2007.

For more details on membershipterms, please refer to the above

table.

On this occasion we would like toremind you that, during the 2006Retreats, our Master gave us clearindications on the need to start uptwo main projects as soon as pos-sible, indispensable to develop andimprove Merigar West.

The first one provides for thebuilding of a parking lot, whichwould help to solve parking prob-lems during the busiest retreats atthe Gar.

The second one involves the hillon which the Gonpa is built whichis at risk of sliding down. In order topreserve our beloved Gonpa, thehill needs to be reinforced.

We are starting fundraising in orderto realize these projects. If youwould like to give your support, youcan add a donation when yourenew/make your memberships,specifying which project you wantto assign it to.

Another way you can help theseprojects is to offer your discount, orpart of it, at the time of registrationfor a Retreat.

We greatly appreciate your sup-port in the realization of theseprojects.

Thank you for your attention andcollaboration

The Merigar Gakyil

HOW TO BECOME A MEMBER

At Merigar: contact the administra-tion office (Pia Bramezza) or thesecretary (Anna De Sole)At the Lings: contact the person incharge or the Yellow Gakyil.

HOW TO RENEW YOURMEMBERSHIP

BANK TRANSFERBanca Etruria, Castel del PianoBranch, Grosseto, ItalyAccount number: 1718 ABI 05390CAB 72190IBAN code IT68 Y053 9072 19000000 0001 718SWIFT/BIC code ARBAIT33126

POSTAL MONEY ORDERAccount number: 10445583Comunità Dzogchen - loc. Merigar- 58031 Arcidosso

CREDIT CARDOn our site: www.dzogchen.it clickon the credit card payment button.The payment will be made throughPaypal, a safe way to transfer yourmoney, free of charge and fast with-out requiring a subscription.

FOR FURTHER INFORMA-TION AND CLARIFICATION:

Secretary (Anna De Sole):+39 0564 966837merigaroffice@tiscali.it

Administration (Pia Bramezza):+39 0564 966322piabram@tiscali.it

MERIGAR MEMBERSHIP UPDATE

2007 Annual Seminar:The Base of the Santi Maha SanghaA Guide to the Study and Practice

The Seminar will be led by Costantino Albini and Fabio Maria Risolo and is intended for those practitioners whowish to study and practice the Base of the Santi Maha Sangha.The aim of the Seminar is to furnish a complete view of the complex articulation of the Base of the SMS and tostudy the main aspects and the practices in depth.Great importance will be given to the teaching aspect in order to facilitate understanding and practice of the Base;for this reason dialogue-collaboration will be encouraged and active participation through study and practice willbe required of the participants during the yearly course. The seminar will encourage moments of exchange, ques-tion and answer sessions, comparing experiences, etc.The Seminar is divided into seven meetings: six weekends (Saturday and Sunday) and a seven-day retreat inAugust. Fabio and Costantino will take turns with the sessions.The Seminar is meant for those who wish to devote themselves to the study and practice of the Base (but not nec-essarily taking the exam); therefore it will require a constant participation in the seminars in order to have a com-prehensive vision of the Base. Nevertheless, at the same time, each individual seminar will be considered as acomplete “module” that develops an aspect of the Base. Thus even those who do not wish to follow the entirecourse may attend.

February 24-25, 2007Explanation and practice of the Base of the SMSwith Costantino AlbiniTopic: The Precious Vase, Chapters I and II (up to and including 3.2.6.)

April 21- 22, 2007Explanation and practice of the Base of the SMSwith Fabio RisoloTopic: The Precious Vase, Chapter II (from 3.2.7. to the end)

June 16-17, 2007Explanation and practice of the Base of the SMSwith Costantino AlbiniTopic: The Precious Vase, Chapters III and IV (up to and including 5.5.)

July 21-22, 2007Explanation and practice of the Base of the SMSwith Fabio RisoloTopic: the Precious Vase, Chapter IV (from 6. to the end)

August 13-19, 2007Explanation and practice of the Base of the SMSCombined with sessions of Yantra Yoga and Dance of the Vajrawith Costantino Albini, Fabio Risolo and Yantra Yoga and Vajra Dance teachersTopic: The Precious Vase, Chapters V and VI

September 15-16, 2007Explanation and practice of the Base of the SMSwith Fabio RisoloTopic: The Precious Vase, Chapter VII

October 20-21, 2007Explanation and practice of the Base of the SMSwith Costantino AlbiniTopic: The Precious Vase, Chapters VIII and IX

europeNEW AUSTRIAN GAKYIL

Red: Bernhard Schweizer, bernhard.schweizer@gmx.at, Tel.: 0043 6991849312 Blue: Monica Wittib, monicawittib@hotmail.com, Tel.: 0043 512 940002 or 0043650 5370280 Yellow: Oliver Leick, dzogchen@aon.at, Tel: 0043 3386 8571 or 0043 6763221365International contact person: Oliver Leick

NEW GAKYIL IN HUNGARY

Yellow: János Deák janek@interware.huRed: Zoltán Varga dolma@freemail.huBlue: Attila Simon attilans@gmail.com

ARGENTINATashigarComunidad DzogchenTashigarCalle pública S/NTanti 5155Pcia. de CórdobaTel & Fax: 0054- 3541-498 356Email: tashigarsur@gmail.com

AUSTRALIANamgyalgar Dzogchen Communityin AustraliaVicki Forscutt - SecretaryPO Box 14 Central Tilba, NSW 2546 Tel/Fax: 61 02 4473 7668Email: namgyalg@acr.net.auWeb site: www.dzogchen.org.au

GarGeköes of NamgyalgarTel: 61(0)2 4473 7770Email: garnet@acr.net.au

AUSTRIAHomepage: www.dzogchen.at

Dzogchen Community of ViennaElisha KoppensteinerTel.: 0043 1 208-22-32 or 0660/817-13-28Email: dzogchen.wien@gmx.at

Dzogchen Community Austria,RegionsOliver F. LeickGschmaier 139, A-8265 Gr.SteinbachTel/Fax: 03386-8571 or 0676-3221365Email: office@ssi-austria.at , oliv-er1506@aon.at

BELGIUMKatia Lytridon 16, rue Paul Goedert L-3330 Crauthem LuxembourgTel: 352 366591

BRAZILDzogchen Community of BrazilLhundrublingRua José Maria Lisboa, 860 - 9thfloor, #93São Paulo - SP - CEP 01423-001

Blue Gakyil: Otavio Lillaotavio@dzogchen.com.brRed Gakyil: Regina Marques regina@dzogchen.com.brYellow Gakyil: Heloísa Paternostrohelo@dzogchen.com.br

CANADAPeter Dimitrov VancouverEmail: pacrim@axion.netTel: (604) 684-4446

Eve-Marie Breglia107 Armadale Ave.Toronto, ONT M65-3X3Tel: 416 767 5252Email: chod@rogers.com

CHILELorena HumeMarchant Pereira 1775A-22-Providencia. SantiagoTel: 056-2-474-4782Mob: 56-9-91381430Email: lorenahume@yahoo.com

CZECH REPUBLICDzogchen o.s.U Bozich Bojovniku 3Prague 2 Tel: +420 603 529 784Email: blue@dzogchen.czyellow@dzogchen.czred@dzogchen.czWeb site: http://www.dzogchen.cz

DENMARK

Lisbeth AgersnapCopenhagenTel: +0045-35352060Email: lisbethagersnap@msn.com

ESTONIAEstonia:Svetlana Kollyakova Email: skol@eer.ee

FINLANDMika SillanpaaKuhankeittajankatu 2250190 MikkeliFinlandEmail: Mika.Sillanpaa@uku.fi

FRANCEAssociation DzogchenDejam Ling, Le DevesF30570 St Andre de MajencoulesTel: 33-(0)467824490Web site: www.association-dzogchen.org

GERMANYDzogchen Gemeinscaft c/o Helga BetzHelga BetzLindemannstr. 12D-40237 DüsseldorfTel+fax 49 (0)211 682657Email: office@dzogchen.deWeb site: www.dzogchen.de

Red gakyil: rot@dzogchen.deYellow gakyil: gelb@dzogchen.deBlue gakyil: blau@dzogchen.de

Oddiyana Shang Shung Edition:oddiyana@dzogchen.de

GREAT BRITAIN Amely Becker15A Langdon Park RoadLondon N6 5PSTel: 020 8348 6253Email: amely@globalnet.co.ukUK web site:www.redsandstonehill.net/dzogchen/

GREECEHellenic Dzogchen CommunityGeneral contact email address:info@dzogchen.grWeb site: www.dzogchen.gr

Individual members to contact inAthens:Alessandra Baniasco, (+30) 210 8015419Dimitris & Anna Daskarolis, (+30) 210 3466861Nicholas Liber, (+30) 6977 806369Panagiotis Stambolis,(+30) 6936 866070Phannie Xenou, (+30) 6977 630540

Individual members to contact inThessaloniki:Thanos & Dina Svoronos, (+30) 2310 828183

HOLLAND Web site: www.dzogchen.nl(under construction)

Martin Landsman, GroningenEmail: mlandsman@planet.nlAnnalen Gall, Amsterdam Email: annalen_gall@hotmail.com

HUNGARYZsolt Somogyvari Szalmarozsa ter 8.Budapest, H-1161Email: dzogchenhu@yahoo.com

ISRAELAlex Polak Tel: 00972-52-6020374 Email: polakalex@hotmail.comYael Rotbard Tel: 00972-52-2682291

Email: bygy@zahav.net.il

ITALYMerigar* Comunita Dzogchen Secretary - Anna De SoleArcidosso, 58031 GR, Italy Tel: 39 0564 966 837 Fax: 39 0564 968 110 Email: merigaroffice@tiscalinet.it

AdzomlingMoreno MarcatoVia Culasso 214053 CanelliAT 0141Tel: (39) 0141 831002

ZhenphenlingDzogchen Community of RomeVia G. Miani 500154 ROMETel. 0039 06 57300346Email: zhenphenling@tiscali.it

KunsallingMagasa - Parco Alto Garda(Prov.Brescia)Fulvio FerrariTel: (+39) 0365 825165Email: fulgidi@tele2.it

JAPANMs. Tsugiko Kiyohashi5-11-22-301 ShimomeguroMeguroku, Tokyo 153-0064Tel&fax (home): +81 3 3712 7507

LATVIAPadmalingGertrudes 5a, Riga, LV-1010Email: viola@dzogchen.ru

LITHUANIADorjeling Lithuanian Community DorjelingEmail: Lithuania@dzogchen.ru

Web site: www.dzogcenas.lt

Algis LukoseviciusArchitektu 176-44LT-04206 VilniusTel: +370-614-18056

LUXEMBOURGKatia Lytridou5, rue Joseph ProbstJunglinster L-6148

MALAYSIATham Wye Min 8669C Klebang Kechil 75200 Melaka Tel: 60 35 6162

Kwok Kee Chang 11-A Jalan Jujor, 1/5 Taman, Bakti Ampang Selangor, W. Malaysia Tel: 60 3 9847167

MEXICOMexico City LingTabasco #67 (between Merida andFrontera streets)Colonia RomaMexico CityTel: (011 52 55) 5511 0550

Carolyn Bass, Yellow Gakyilcbass@prodigy.net.mx Angela Mijares, Red Gakyil angiemaiden@hotmail.comMonica Patiño, Blue Gakyilmonica_patino@hotmail.com Tel: 011 52 55 581 303153A Cerrada de Juarez #33-1Colonia Tinajas ContaderoMexico City 05370

Tsegyalgar West/Baja Gar

Scott Schroeder, Gakyil PresidentEmail: ecobaja@prodigy.net.mxTel: 011 52 624 15 07407

Rodrigo VillalobosEmail: rodrigosky@hotmail.comTel: 011 52 624 14 77525

Jardin de los NaranjosApartado Postal 39523400 San Jose del Cabo, BCS

Email: rickmutch@yahoo.comTel: Skype name is bajagar_office

MONTENEGRODubravka VelasevicEmail: dub_dakini@yahoo.co.uk

NEPALVikki FloydG.P.O. Box 8974CPC 069ThamelKathmanduRes.Tel: 00977-1-4270106(after 8.00 p.m.)Email: vikkifloyd@hotmail.com

NEW CALEDONIAAs. Dzogchen NC.378 rue Hypollite Passy98835 KoutioDumbeaNew CaledoniaTel: (687) 24 16 69Email: maclaigar@lagoon.nc

NEW ZEALAND New Zealand Dzogchen CommunityPO Box 18-183 Glen Innes Auckland 1743Email: nzgakyil@yahoo.co.nz

Paora Joseph Email: teotitakarangi@yahoo.co.nz

Gabrielle KearneyEmail: rana@pl.net

NORWAYGordon CranmerDysjaland4156 MosteroyNorwayTel.: (47) 51724664Email: egordons@czi.net

Community Web site:http://go.to/dzogchen.no

PERUPaul SablichGaleano 117, Urb. Los RosalesLima 33, PerúEmail: gakyil_peru@yahoo.comPOLANDWspolnota Dzogczenul. Bruna 1/6802-594 WarszawaEmail: dzogczen@dzogczen.pl

PaldenlingLysa Gora 16838-230 Nowy ZmigrodTel: 48 887957944Email: paldenling@wp.plWebsite: http://www.dzogczen.pl

Cezary WozniakUl. Emaus 3330-213 KrakowTel: 012/4252700, mobile 609222211Email: cwozniak@bci.pl

PORTUGALLydia FerreraRua da Nazare 2Vila Facaia2560 Torres VedrasTel: 351 61 911235Email: lydiaferreira@sapo.pt

Pedro PaivaRua Fernando Assis Pacheco2765-120 S. Joao de EstorilEmail: pema_wangmo@hotmail.com

RUSSIAN FEDERATION Kunsangar 142500 Russia, Moscow region,Pavlovskiy Posad, RUPS,a/ya 13, BFDostoyanieSecretaryTel: 7 096 43 21156Tel: 7 095 740 79 98Email: kunsang@dzogchen.ru

Moscow DC RinchenlingEmail: rinchenling@dzogchen.ru

St. Petersburg DC Sangeling Email: sangyeling@mail.ru

Baikal DC NamselingContact person AlexanderVyaznetskovtsev: Email: yantra@buryatia.ru

Samara DC. Contact person Viktor Krecker: Email: krecker@samtel.ru

SERBIA/EX YUGOSLAVIAJelena ZagorcicVojvode Stepe 28011000 Beograd381 11 462555Email: ela.z@EUnet.yu

Ivana Radicevic KaramanOtona Zupancica 3611070 BelgradeTel: 381 11 604115Email: dakini@EUnet.yu

SINGAPOREWen Fung Ringo Blk 426 #01-336 Jurong west Avenue 1 640426 SingaporeRingo Boon Email: ringoboon@yahoo.com.sg

SOUTH AFRICADarryl van Blerk104 Park roadWalmer Estate9725Cape TownTel. 27-21-4470129Fax. 27-21-4220565Email:zebrad@intekom.co.za

SPAINDzogchen Community, SpainApt. Postal 4622028028 Madridwww.dzogchen.es

YELLOW GAKYILyolanda_amarillo@dzogchen.emasha_amarillo@dzogchen.esrosa_amarillo@dzogchen.es

RED GAKYILadela_rojo@dzogchen.esraquel_rojo@dzogchen.es

BLUE GAKYILlella_azul@dzogchen.espeter_azul@dzogchen.esramon_azul@dzogchen.es

SWEDENAlexander & Pernilla DobronravoffUlrikedalsvagen 6i #201224 58 Lund, SwedenTel: 046 13 70 34 Mobile: 073 655 1968Email: pernilla_liedgren_dobron-ravoff@hotmail.com

SWITZERLANDSwiss German RegionPeter EiseneggerEmail: garuda@bluewin.ch Tel: 0041(0)419170245

Swiss French RegionFabienne Rey-DucEmail: farey68@hotmail.com Tel: 0041(0)273232393

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i n t e r n a t i o n a l c o m m u n i t y c o n t ai n t e r n a t i o n a l c o m m u n i t y c o n t a

Swiss Italian RegionJulie Breukel MichelEmail: julie@lungta.chTel: 0041(0)917309991

TAIWANPeter C.Y. PanEmail: stupid@ms1.kcg.gov.tw orstupid.pan@msa.hinet.net.

THAILAND Geoffrey Blake & Lynne Klapecki33 Soi Lang Suan - Ploenchit RdBangkok 10330Tel: 66 (0)2255-5150Tel: 66 (0)2254-9061Email: gblake@mozart.inet.co.th

Alex SouterBangkokTel: 09 039 3992 or 02 742 1965

UKRAINE Kiev DC, Ukraine kiev@dzogchen.ru

Donetsk DC, Ukraine donetsk@dzogchen.ruKharkov DC Karmaling, Ukraine karmaling@dzogchen.ru

USATsegyalgarEd Hayes -Secretary P.O. Box 277 Conway, MA 01341Tel: 413 369 4153 Fax: 413 369 4473 Email: secretary@tsegyalgar.orgGakyil: gakyil@tsegyalgar.org.Web site: www.tsegyalgar.org

AlaskaPeggy LeslieDzogchen Community of AlaskaPO Box 240063Douglas, AK 99824Tel: 907-364-2733

Pat MartinDzogchen Community of AlaskaPO Box 35805Juneau, AK 99803Tel: 907-780-6643

ChicagoLynn Sutherland5717 N. Washtenaw Ave.Chicago, IL 60659Tel: 773 784 4168Email: lynnsutherland@yahoo.com

Dzogchen Community West Coast Dondrup Ling2748 Adeline St. Suite DBerkeley, CA 94703Tel: 510 644 2260Email: aha@dzogchencommunity-west.orgWeb site: www.dzogchencommunity-west.org

Miami, FloridaDzogchen Community in MiamiEmail: info@dzogchenmiami.orgWeb site: www.dzogchenmiami.org

Dominik NicevaTel. (1) 305-726-9035Email: ndominik@earthlink.net

Dzogchen Community of NewMexico Josefa CandelariaPO Box 90698Albuquerque, New MexicoTel: (505) 440-4112Email: ashikrugs@aol.com

ColoradoLidian KingPO Box 1014Crestone, CO 81131Tel: 719 256 5263Email: lidian@fone.net

Kundrolling - New York City151 W. 30th St., #403, NYCTel: 212-564 1024Email: nycdzogchen@aol.com

Jane Fulton220 East 72nd Street#20B New York, NY 10021Email: janefulton100@hotmail.com

Michael Katz, NYC Gakyil DirectorEmail: zak10016@yahoo.com

HawaiiDzogchen Community of Hawaii c/o Leilani Sim-Godbehere, 48-495 Kamehameha Hwy., Kaneohe, Hawaii 96744 Tel: (808) 239-1165Email: simgod@hawaii.rr.comsunbear@aloha.net

Susan Indich 129 Kaelepulu Dr. KailuaHawaii, 96734 Tel: 808 261 3469 Fax: 808 524 4342Email: indichcoll@aol.com

Jerene81-1081 Keopuka Mauka Rd.Kealakekua Hi. 96750Tel: 808 323-9714Email: jerenela@hawaii.rr.comMelinda Sacarob 87-3139 Mamalahoa Hwy.Capt Cook Hawaii 96704Tel: 808-328-9473

VENEZUELANorth Tashigar Gakyil:tashinor@gruposyahoo.com.ar

Tashigar NorteFinca TashigarProlongación de la Calle BolivarValle de Pedro González, Isla deMargaritaTel: 00 58 295 2580 332Email: secretary@tashigarnorte.org Web site:www.dzogchenvenezuela.org

Pablo Lau Rivera Lhundrubgar Pba. Res. PedermalesAv. Paez Montalban II 1021 Caracas Tel: 58 2 4421434 Fax: 58 2 340643 Email: ablola@hotmail.com

Elias Capriles Apartado Postal 483Merida 5101 Tel & Fax: +58 274 2440026 Email: eliascapriles@dzogchen.ru

Merida Dzogchen CommunityApartado Postal 483Merida 5101 Fax: +58 274 2440026

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 6 11

N o r b u n e t

The Mailing Listof the

InternationalDzogchen

Community

Administrator: Loek Jehee

loekjehe@xs4all.nl

To subscribe send an email to:

norbunetrequest@mail.dzogchen.ru

with the subject line:subscribe

a c t sa c t s

If you find any incor-rect information please

contact Naomi at mirror @tsegyalgar.org

Football atTashigar South

December 2006

One blazing hot December day, afew days before Christmas,Tashigar South presented a footballspectacle for Rinpoche and theDzogchen Community. Thewomen’s team was made up of theSouth Americans vs. the Others, allfrom Tashigar. The SouthAmericans were predictably victo-rious. The men’s game was thevaliant from Tashigar vs. the victo-rious Tanti team. A good time washad by all!!!

Women’s teams

Men’s teams

12

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

C O M M U N I T Y N E W S Mandarava Chüdlen Retreat with Nina RobinsonLithuaniaApril 15 – 22, 2007

The Lithuanian Dzogchen community is happy to announce MandaravaChüdlen retreat with Nina Robinson, April 15 – 22, 2007. The retreat willbe held in English with translation into Russian.

The place will be in a nice area outside the city. Details about place andaccommodation we will be announced in February.

This is preliminary announcement for people who must plan far ahead.

Best wishes,Gakyil of Dorgeling

PRONUNCIATION OF TIBETAN PRACTICE TEXTSWITH ALEXANDER PUBANTS, BASE LEVEL SMS INSTRUCTORJANUARY 13 & 14, 2007GERMANY

GANAPUJA -JIGMED LINGPA, CHÖD, INVOCATION OF EKAJATI AND

DORJE LEGPA

Schedule: Saturday 2:00 – 4:00 pm and 5:30 - 7:30 pmSunday 9 - 11am and 12 – 2:00pm Location: Leopoldstr. 2, 76275 Ettlingen (near Karlsruhe)Accomodation: http://www.bed-and-breakfast.de/zimmer/pension-ettlingen.htmFor members onlyCost is 60 Euro if you pay before December 30, 2006, after that date theprice is 80 Euro. Reduced: 30/ 40 Euro, sustainer free.Payment: Dzogchen Gemeinschaft Deutschland e.V., StadtsparkasseDüsseldorfIBAN: DE40 3005 0110 0011 0478 91 SWIFT-BIC: DUSSDEDDXXXInformation and Registration: Alexander Geier Tel. 0049 (0)911/5971055,aegeier@aol.com

GOOD NEWS FOR THE RUSSIANDZOGCHEN COMMUNITY!Kunsangar Lives!

Dear all,

We would like to inform you that the Kunsangar place has been sold. Weare also happy to let you know that our Vajra brother Igor Magafurov pur-chased it. Igor’s purpose was to save this unique place for DzogchenCommunity.Chögyal Namkhai Norbu chose Igor’s project because there can be bene-fit for entire Community and Rinpoche has already approved retreat activ-ities in Kunsangar.So now, despite it being private property, Kunsangar is going on as aDzogchen Community retreat center in collaboration with InternationalDzogchen Community Gakyils and working to organize everythingaccording to the general restructuring of the Community.We believe this place is still a very nice opportunity for practitioners fromdifferent regions to practice together, to realize various projects and tocooperate for the benefit of precious Dzogchen Teaching.

Much love and many Tashi Delegs,Yours in Vajra FamilyKunsangar Staff

merigar east

A COURSE OF THE 6 SPACES OF SAMANTHABADRAwith ALGIS LUKOSEVICIUSPoland, WarsawJanuary 26 - 28, 2007

FULL COST:90 Euros if paid by January12, 100 Euros if paid after.(member discounts are taken into consideration)

Please confirm your participation to: llaga@op.pl

All the best,

JagaMobile Tel: +48 692 20 71 71Skype: anghorwat

DANCE COURSES IN THE UKAPRIL – MAY 2007

April 1st - 7th 2007Dance of the Vajra (second half) with Stoffelina Verdonkat Kunselling Retreat Centre, Powys, Wales, UKCourse £150 (sustaining members free);To stay at Kunselling costs £20 per day including food.This course is open to those who have received transmission fromChögyal Namkhai Norbu and have learned the first half of the Dance ofthe Vajra.

May 25th - 28th 2007Dance of the Liberation of the Six Spaces of Samantabhadra with CindyFaulknerat Kunselling Retreat Centre Powys, Wales, UKCourse £100, Ordinary members £80, sustaining members free;To stay at Kunselling costs £20 per day including food.This course is open to all who are genuinely interested in the Dzogchenteachings.

For more information contact Rowan Wylie <rowanwylie@hotmail.com>

Guru Yoga and Semdzins retreat with Jakob (Trencianske Teplice), Oct. 2006

Yantra Yoga 1. and 2. series with Emily (in Zilina), Sept. 2006

Mandarava Retreat with Nina (in Stara Tura), Oct. 2006

R e t r e a t s i n S l o v a k i a

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 6 13

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

C O M M U N I T Y N E W S

tsegyalgar eastDCA Tsegyalgar East

PO Box 277Conway, MA 01341 USA

Tel: 413 369 4153Fax & Bookstore 413 369 4473

Email: secretary@tsegyalgar.orgWebsite: www.tsegyalgar.org

YANTRA YOGA AT TSEGYALGAR EASTFebruary 23- 25, 2007with Paula Barry and Naomi Zeitz

We are happy to announce the first Yantra Yoga course for the New Yearat Tsegyalgar East. Paula Barry and Naomi Zeitz, our local Yantra Yogainstructors, will teach this course.

Schedule: Feb 23, 2007 7-9pm; Feb 24, 2007 10 -12 and 4.30-6.30pm;Feb25, 2007 10-12 and 4.30- 6.30pm.

Fee: For the entire weekend the fee is $100.00 or $ 75.00 for fulltime students.

Please kindly register before Feb 15, 2007 with the officesecretary@tsegyalgar.org or Tel: 413 369 4153.

Thank you,Oni McKinstry forTsegyalgar East Blue Gakyil.

Santi Maha Sangha Schedule of Jim ValbyJanuary – October 2007

Jan 26 to Feb 4 Dondrub Ling (Berkeley), SMS Base & SMS LevelOneMar 9-12 Toronto, Canada SMS BaseMar 19 to Apr 25 New Zealand, Namgyalgar, Australia, SMS Base,SMS Level OneMay 18-20, Chicago, SMS BaseAug 3-6, 8-11, Tsegyalgar East, SMS BaseAug 13-16, 18-21, Tsegyalgar East, SMS Level OneOct 19-22, Los Angeles area, SMS Base

NEW New York City Gakyil

BLUE:Christopher Dye 1160, 59th St, #2R Brooklyn NY 11219Tel 917 214 1272classicalacupuncture@gmail.com

Michael Katz, President311 East 83rd St, #5CNew YorkNY 10028917 674 3395212 4523001zak10016@yahoo.com

Inna Vicherevina 2355 East 12th St, # 2HBrooklyn, NY 11229917 359 7454Belka1992@yahoo.com

YELLOWJane Fulton, TreasurerMark Fulton, a/c 0015220 East 72nd Street, #20BNew YorkNY 10021Tel/fax 212 535 5667, Mark cell917 655 0280, Jane cell 917 8556263janefulton100@hotmail.com

Oscar Montero, Vice President352 Cathedral Park Way # 8BNew YorkNY 10025Tel 212 749 1233Cell 336 906 6102

Monteronyc@aol.com

Julia MurphySummer: PO Box 549WainscottNY 11976Other times:7 Charles Street, #2New YorkNY 10014917 864 2416leopard@panix.com

RED: Ruslan Malachowsky2301 First Ave #6BNew York, NY 10035l 212 495 9512amriteshvara@yahoo.com

Devjani Huggins 2 Washington Square VillageApt 10-ONew YorkNY 10012212 982 3389devihuggins@yahoo.com

Dina Ostrovsky28 Sandford RdFair LawnNJ 07410Tel 201 796 7253732 277 5404dostr116@yahoo.com

Stephen Gould (An advisor to theGaykil)99 Harris RdPrinceton JunctionNJ 08550-1303609 799 1203

NEW PRACTICE CD’S FROM SHANG SHUNG INSTITUTE ITALY AVAILABLE ATTHE TSEGYALGAR BOOKSTORE

We recently received a huge order from the Shang Shung Institute in Italy!! There are many new CD’s now avail-able; info on them is as follows:

The Long Life Practice of Amitayus (CD Audio):A set of 2 CDs by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu with explanation and practice of the terma teaching of this long lifepractice discovered by Nyagla Pema Dundul. Recorded during a retreat in Conway, Massachusetts, 1984.Order Number: 10033Price: $30.00Shang Shung Institute

Santi Maha Sangha: Preliminary Practices of the Base (CD Audio):Adriano Clemente performs the preliminary practices in a private recording.Order Number: 10030Price: $15.00Shang Shung Institute

Shitro (CD audio, new one CD version):This CD contains the explanation and practice of Shitro given by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu according to the termaof Namchö Mingyur Dorje. This recording was done in the Gonpa of Merigar on August 1st, 2003 as a privaterecording session with Rinpoche solely for the use of the Dzogchen Community. It also contains the images use-ful, for visualization and serves not only as an excellent learning aid but also as a way to feel more intimately con-nected to our previous Master as we practice the Shitro he has so generously transmitted to us.Order Number: 10035Price: $18.00Shang Shung Institute

Guru Dragphur (CD Audio): *REMASTERED*Chögyal Namkhai Norbu explains the practice of Guru Dragphur, Merigar, June 1993.Order Number: 10034Price: $18.00Shang Shung Institute

Ganapuja (CD Audio): *REMASTERED*A set of 2 CDs by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu with explanation and practice, Merigar, 1991.Order Number: 10032Price: $30.00Shang Shung Institute

Ozer Chenma (CD audio): *REMASTERED*A set of 2 CDs by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu with explanation and practice. Merigar, March 1992.Order Number: 10031Price: $30.00Shang Shung Institute

WEBCAST RETREAT MP3 CD’sNewly Available from Shang Shung Institute:

Dzogchen Semlung NamkhacheTashigar North: March 10-19, 2006Order Number: 10113Price: $25.00Open webcast

The Preliminaries of the Path of Ati: about the Purification of the Six LokasTashigar North: April 30 – May 6, 2006Order Number: 10114Price: $25.00Open webcast

Longsal Ati Nadzer RetreatMerigar: June 9-15, 2006Order Number: 10115Price: $25.00Restricted Webcast

If you would like to place an order for one of these CDs, or any other, please email, fax, or phone in to me the fol-lowing information:

1. Your billing and shipping addresses2. Your VISA or MC number with expiration date (it is not secure to send this information in an email)3. The list of items you would like to order

Tsegyalgar BookstoreP.O. Box 82 Conway, MA 01341413-369-4473 (Ph/Fax)bookstore@tsegyalgar.org

DANCE OF THE SONG OF THE VAJRAINTENSIVE WEEKEND RETREATWITH INTERMEDIATE LEVEL TEACHERANASTASIA MCGHEEDzogchen Community of New MexicoJanuary 12-14, 2007

This retreat is offered for those who have alreadyreceived transmission of Dzogchen and the Lung of theSong of the Vajra from Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, andwho have completed a course in the Dance of theSong of the Vajra. During this retreat, we will reviewthe movements and deepen our practice.There will be an opening session Friday evening at6:00 and then four Thuns with question-and-answersessions each day on Saturday and Sunday. (Times forSaturday and Sunday will be announced.) We will havea Ganapuja either Saturday or Sunday.In the Dzogchen Teaching, sound and movement arevery important because they are the means to integrateoneself into the state of contemplation.The Vajra Dance is principally a means to harmonizethe energy of each individual. If one has a more pro-found knowledge of the meaning of the Dance, itbecomes a method for integrating the three existences

of body, voice and mind into knowledge of the state ofcontemplation. This integration is one of the mostimportant aims of a Dzogchen practitioner.The Vajra Dance is practiced on a Mandala that repre-sents the correspondence between the internal dimen-sion of the individual and the outer dimension of theworld.Membership in the Dzogchen Community is required.

Location: Synergia Ranch between Albuquerque andSanta Fe, New Mexico (There are a few overnightaccommodations available at the ranch if anyone isinterested. Meals are not available at the ranch.) Fordirections and information about Synergia, seehttp://www.synergiaranch.com/direction.html .

Cost: $130- $180, sliding scale.

Registration: Pre-registration is not mandatory, but itis suggested so that we will have an idea of participantnumbers.

Reply to: Becky Page at bjaymonkey@yahoo.com,505.259.6711

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I N T E R N A T I O N A L

C O M M U N I T Y N E W S

NEW GAKYILNEW MEXICO - USA

Blue: Josefa CandelariaRed: Janet Mason and Becky Page

Yellow: Susie Marlow

Contact person:Josefa Candelaria

PO Box 90698Albuquerque, New Mexico

Tel: (505) 440-4112Email: ashikrugs@aol.com

by Heidi SchorIn the wettest November in Seattle’srecorded history about fifteen peo-ple gathered for ten days for a SantiMaha Sangha Base Retreat led byJim Valby. The snow that paralyzedthe Emerald city these past threedays had not yet fallen, but the rainfell in a steady downpour that madeus feel very happy to be snug in ourcozy retreat space lit by a glowingfire. Jim expertly took us, beginnersand advanced practitioners alike, ona detailed journey of the theory andpractices of the Buddhist path, allthe while elucidating the qualities ofDzogchen and hammering home the

point that enlightenment is not yetanother destination; urging us towake up and enjoy the ride, evenwhile asleep. A few Vajra Dancesessions were integrated into theretreat, enabling us to dance with afull mandala for the first time sinceour recent Vajra Dance Course withAnastasia McGhee. The newlyformed Gaykil has been very busythese past months with arrangingvisiting teachers and are pleasedthat our community is growingstronger. We continue to practiceand dance through out the rainy sea-son, assured that all is perfect just asit is!

PLEDGES FOR DONDRUB LING

We are very grateful for your generous pledges of donations to supportDondrub Ling throughout 2007.

$17,256 was pledged by 30 practitioners

While this amount is not sufficient to cover all of the rent and othercosts at our current location for the entire year, the Gakyil has decidedto stay at our present site until October 2007, continuing with our cur-rent month-to-month lease. We plan to make up some of the deficit inour operating budget with additional fundraising activities as well asvarious courses and workshops. Because there are only three memberson the Gakyil, we will need collaboration and support from all of youto make this happen.

Dondrub Ling continues to offer a number of activities and practices todevelop further our experience and understanding of the teachings ofChögyal Namkhai Norbu, including live video webcasts of Rinpoche’sretreat teachings and regular Vajra Dance and Yantra Yoga practices.Recent intensive weekend retreats of Mandarava and Guru Yoga ofWhite A practices combined with the Dance of Song of the Vajra havebeen a joy. Scheduled in January are two intensive weekend retreats ofShitro and Mandarava with Tsalung practices. And beginning January26, we are hosting a ten-day Santi Maha Sangha Base and First Levelpractice retreat with Jim Valby.

If you have not checked our monthly practice calendar recently, pleasetake a look at Dondrub Ling’s Website, <www.dzogchencommunity-west.org>.

In addition to our gratitude to all the donors who responded to thisyear’s fundraising drive, we wish to thank all the volunteers and partic-ipants who make up the local Dzogchen Community, without whomnone of us would have our place for shared practice here at DondrubLing.

Many Tashi Delegs!Tana Lehr, Red Gakyil

SANTI MAHA SANGHA BASE LEVEL RETREATWITH JIM VALBYSEPTEMBER 29- OCTOBER 1, 2006SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

Jim and friends in Seattle

SANTI MAHA SANGHA, BASE LEVEL AND LEVEL ONE RETREATS

with Jim ValbyJanuary 26 to February 4, 2007

Base Level RetreatThe SMS Base retreat will be based on The Precious Vase, written by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. We will study andpractice the essence of the theory and practice of Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen.

Who may attend: Since the essence of Dzogchen teaching is the qualified Master’s transmission, it is necessaryÅthat all practitioners who participate in this retreat have received transmission from our Master Chögyal NamkhaiNorbu via webcast, video, or one of the three worldwide transmission days, or at a live retreat. However, if you area practitioner who is seriously interested in attending this Base Level retreat but have not yet received transmission,please contact us.

Level One RetreatWho May Attend: Practitioners must have passed the SMS Base Level exam.

Cost for attending both retreats: $275, if registered by January 15.

All sessions will be held at Dondrub Ling, which is located upstairs over Crixa Cakes.To register, please write your check to Dzogchen Community West Coast and send it to Dondrub Ling, 2748Adeline, Suite D, Berkeley, CA 94703

For more information, please see our website: www.dzogchencommunitywest.orgOr email us: Aha@dzogchencommunitywest.org

NEW BOOKS FROM THE TSEGYALGAR BOOKSTORE

TEACHINGS AT THE TEACHERS’ TRAININGS (RESTRICTED)This book contains the comments and remarks made by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu during the three Teachers’Trainings that were held at Tashigar Norte, Venezuela, in 2002, 2003, and 2005 for appointing the teachers of SantiMaha Sangha, Yantra Yoga, and Vajra Dance. Rinpoche explained, “The Teachers’ Training program is veryimportant because we need people who have the capacity to teach, and who can develop that capacity for thefuture. That is the only way in which the teaching can continue.”Price: $10.00Order #: 187EShang Shung Edizioni

THE VAJRA ARMOUR (RESTRICTED)Teachings on the Healing Mantra called Dorjei KotrabChögyal Namkhai Norbu first transmitted the Vajra Armor mantra on April 23rd, 2006 during the Moxabustionretreat held in Tashigar Norte. The benefits of this mantra were later explained by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu onthe base of two different termas: a terma by Dorje Lingpa, commented on May 6th, 2006, during a retreat held atTashigar Norte; and a terma by Ju Mipham, commented on June 15th, 2006, during a retreat held at Merigar.Therefore this booklet contains two different transcriptions of the oral teachings given on this healing mantra.Price: $10.00Order #: 240EShang Shung Edizioni

THE ROOT UPADESHA ON THE VAJRA BRIDGE OF LONGDE (RESTRICTED)Merigar, July 5th -9th, 2002What does Vajra Bridge mean? Some people say that it is the bridge between our physical body and the Body ofLight, because many Dzogchen Longde practitioners realized the Rainbow Body. Another explanation of VajraBridge is related more to the method of teachings. The Dzogchen Semde works mainly with direct introduction.The Dzogchen Upadesha, since one already has knowledge, works mostly towards integrating in that state. TheDzogchen Longde is between these two methods, so it connects them like a bridge.Price: $15.00Order #: 239EShang Shung Edizioni

DZOGCHEN TEACHINGS: THE OPENING OF THE GATE TO THE STATE OF ATI (RESTRICTED)Tashigar South, 26th December 2000 – 1st January 2001Chögyal Namkhai Norbu received this teaching in a dream from his master Changchub Dorje, but the teaching isnot his. It is from Guru Padmasambhava, and explains in a very simple way that we can enter into the knowl-edge of Ati. One night Rinpoche dreamed that he was in the place where Changchub Dorje lived and in the dreamRinpoche said to him, “In Eastern Tibet there is a big revolution, no one can lead a normal life anymore, and nowall these turmoils are breaking out in central Tibet too, so even if we want to practice we can’t, and if we want tolearn the teachings and practice Dharma we don’t get much chance: what can we do in such a situation?”Changchub Dorje replied, “I gave you an essential teaching, condensed, just right for this kind of situation; it iscalled Ati Gojed; ati means primordial state, knowledge, go means gate, jed means to open, and so it means howto open the gate of knowledge. With this teaching you can not just receive the knowledge but you can apply it.”Price: $15.00Order #: 236EShang Shung Edizioni

If you would like to place an order for one of these books, or any other, please email, fax, or phone in to me thefollowing information:

Your billing and shipping addressesYour VISA or MC number with expiration date (better to phone or fax this info in to us because it is not secureover email)The list of items you would like to order

All of our contact info is below.I look forward to hearing from you!

Anna BartensteinTsegyalgar BookstoreP.O. Box 82 Conway, MA 01341413-369-4473 (Ph/Fax)bookstore@tsegyalgar.org

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tsegyalgar west

Tsegyalgar WestBaja Mexico

Dzogchen Community West Coast755 Euclid Ave.

Berkeley, CA 94708Email: cabass@prodigy.net.mx

carolfields@aol.comWebsite: www.bahasangha.org

Participants in the concluding Part V weekend course in Dance of Song of the Vajra, taught December 1-3 atDondrub Ling by Anastasia McGhee. Throughout 2006, between 19 and 24 practitioners have attended each of thefive weekend-long teaching segments of the five-part course in the entire Dance of the Song of the Vajra. Two inten-sive review teaching sessions plus a repeat course in Part I were also offered during the past eight months. LocalDzogchen Community members are practicing the Dance of Song of the Vajra two to three times a week on themandala at Dondrub Ling and are planning for a long weekend practice retreat in Dance of Song of the Vajra inwinter 2007.

THANKS FROM TSEGYALGAR WESTJARDIN DE LOS NARANJOS, THE BAJAGAR

Jardin de los Naranjos, the Baja Gar (Tsegyalgar West) acknowledgeswith profound gratitude the donation of $50,000 in 2006 by our anony-mous donor, who has been donating annually since this project began. Inreturn, we have supplied this donor with a business plan for the next twoyears. We also wish to thank our wonderful casita subscribers and endowers whohave provided matching funds towards this donation by contributing col-lectively $32,000. They are listed below:

Efrem Marder and Marit Cranmer, Conway, MassCelia and Brian Wright, Burwash Common, East Sussex, UKSusan C. Harris, Santa Fe, New MexicoJoan Casey, Bellingham, WashingtonTsegyalgar East, Conway, MassElizabeth Pretzer, Richmond, CaliforniaJohn LaFrance and Janet Janka, Collingswood, NJ and La Ribera, MexicoDoug Lingard, Victoria, CanadaOsa Manell, Lincoln, Vermont

Due to these generous gifts, the Casita Village at Jardin de los Naranjos isproceeding apace - we now have 3 furnished casitas for teachers and tem-porary rental stays; one casita for Rinpoche, and one office casita. Ourexpert construction crew is on-site and up-and-running for the comingyear. There are a total of 19 casitas and two additional casita foundations.We invite any last-minute donors from 2006 or early donors from 2007 tojoin us. Both 3-week subscriptions and whole-casita endowments areavailable to extend for a 15-year period and include a tax deduction in theU.S. Please contact carolmfields@aol.com for information.We also invite anyone to make matching donations toward our 2006anonymous donor gift—we need to raise another $18,000. All U.S. dona-tions are tax-deductible.We are most grateful for Rinpoche, who kept encouraging us to seek forthe paradise that is Los Naranjos, for the blessings of his teachings, for theCommunity’s support, and for the kind munificence of our anonymousdonor.

The Baja Gar Gakyil

south americaTashigar SouthComunidad DzogchenTashigarCalle pública S/NTanti 5155Pcia. de CórdobaArgentinaTel & Fax: 0054- 3541-498 356Email: tashigarsur@gmail.com

Tashigar NorthFinca Tashigar

Prolongación de la Calle BolivarValle de Pedro González. Isla de Margarita

Tel: 00 58 295 415 5800Email: tashinor@mail.dzogchen.ru

Web site: www.dzogchenvenezuela.org

SMS Level 1 Training with Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, Tashigar South Gonpa, December 12, 2006 N. ZEITZ

Yantra Yoga Course with Marisa Alonso at Tashigar South December 18 - 22, 2006 N ZEITZ

A NEW LING DEKYITLING and GAKYIL ESTABLISHED IN COSTA RICA

A new ling has been established in Costa Rica as of October 7, 2006 by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu calledDekyitling, the Happiness Ling.

THE NEW GAKYIL:Yellow: Natalie SteverlynkRed: Oscar Jimenez Blue: Gloria (Titi) Brenes

has to focus all his energies on theimmanent aloe harvest. Cleansheets, prepare food, sleep.

Day 3 - I am determined to helpwith the cleaning of the aloe veraprocessing plant before JG but afteronly 15 minutes of washing wallsreceive a phone call from the hospi-tal. Delma accompanies me (mySpanish is still very basic) and wepass by Victor’s family home andinform his 11-year-old daughter

Alejandra and her mother Hilda thatVictor is very fragile. At the hospi-tal Victor is in the corridor con-vinced that someone is trying to killhim. I realize from what he saysthat the decreasing oxygen levelsdisorient him in his blood as well asthe absence of Michel who has beena regular figure. Victor settlesquickly with the arrival ofAlejandra, Hilda, Delma andmyself, some explanation as towhat is happening and reassurance.He is soon settled back into his bedand the doctor decides not to pre-scribe him the antipsychotic shewas considering. I tell him he mustrest. He asks me “what are wegoing to do next?” I realize thatVictor is not ready to accept hisimmanent demise. He has hope andis determined to extend his life aslong as he can. We try to obtain aplain chest x-ray but there is noportable oxygen and Victor cannotmanage the process. I go to the pri-vate clinic and Dr Jose kindlycomes with me to talk with Victor.We discuss whether computerizedtomography of his chest may beuseful in determining how much ofhis acute deterioration is due toheart failure or tumor invasion.

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Kunye Courses at TashigarNorte, Margarita Island,Venezuelawith Dr. Phuntsog WangmoLevel I and Level IIJanuary 26 – February 5, 2007

Level 1: January 26th- 30th, 2007Cost: Bs. 200.000Level 2: February 5th – 9th, 2007Cost: Bs. 200.000

Kunye Massage TherapyKunye, a massage that is taught in the Tibetan Medical tradi-tion, is unique to that tradition. Mentioned in some of theancient texts of the Bon and Buddhist religions, Kunye hasbeen practiced for centuries in the Himalayan regions byTibetan peoples.The term kunye is the combination of two words: “ku” and“nye.” “Ku” means to anoint the body of a sick or healthy per-son with oils that are appropriate to that person’s specific ill-ness or constitution. “Nye” means to externally rub or massagecrucial points such as nerves and tendons. The combinationof ku and nye is a method to cure internal imbalances and elim-inate causes for disease.The Conclusive Tantra, the last of the four medical tantras,states that the mild therapies consist of compresses, medicinalbaths and massage.” Kunye massage is considered a mild ther-apy.The practice of massage is very beneficial and does not havenegative effects; moreover, it can be done by anyone, regard-less of whether they are doctors, yogis, or not. For this reason,

this therapeutic modality has always been practiced throughoutthe centuries by the Tibetan people and continues to be prac-ticed today.The study of Tibetan massage is structured on three levels.Each of the three levels comprises a total of 36 hours.

Lhajeh (Dr.) Phuntsog WangmoLhajeh (Dr.) Phuntsog Wangmo received her advanced degreefrom the Lhasa University School of Traditional Medicine in1988 where she also served a two-year residency after com-pleting her five-year training program (1983-1990). Duringthat time she studied with the Khenpos Troru Tsenam andGyaltsen, two of Tibet’s foremost doctors who are creditedwith the revival of Tibetan Medicine within Tibet under theChinese. Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo had the exceptional opportu-nity of extensive clinical training under Khenpo Troru Tsenamfor four years. Thereafter, she dedicated many years of workas a doctor in Eastern Tibet where she collaborated and direct-ed the implementation of A.S.I.A., the non-profit organizationfounded by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. Since that time, she hasworked on behalf of A.S.I.A. setting up hospitals and trainingcenters in the remote regions of Sichuan Province and ChamdoPrefecture. From 1996 to the present, she has been the A.S.I.A. projectcoordinator in Tibet for the development of Gamthog Hospitalin collaboration with expatriate personnel as well as the over-all health coordinator and practitioner of traditional Tibetanmedicine supervising health activities through out the sur-rounding region of Chamdo Prefecture. Prior to 1996, she wason the faculty of Shang Shung Institute in Italy where she gavenumerous seminars and conference presentations on Tibetanmedicine. Dr. Wangmo remains in residence at the ShangShung Institute in Conway, Massachusetts in America whereshe is the director of the Institute’s Traditional Tibetan

Medicine Program.The first level consists of:• A brief history of Tibetan medicine• The principle of the five elements as taught in the Tibetanmedical texts• The principle of the three humors• The humoral characteristics of different types of people• The diagnostic procedure of pulse-taking• The diagnostic procedure of urine observation• A review of cases in which massage is appropriate or con-traindicated• Finding massage points• Measurement for finding massage points• How to perform the actual kunye massage• Benefits of kunye massage

The second level consists of:• How to massage the points• How to apply the oils• Kunye massage indicated for healthy people• Kunye massage indicated for sick people• Kunye massage for neurological disorders• Kunye massage for muscular problems• Kunye massage for people with mental disorders• How to massage points related to internal organs• The medical properties of the application of hot and coldcompresses and stones, their use and benefits

Please confirm your participation to:secretary@tashigarnorte.orgInstructions on paying - please visithttp://tashigarnorte.org/pages/how_to_pay.htm

Gakyil of Tashigar Norte

Vajra Dance Course with Nelida Saporiti at Tashigar South December 18 - 22, 2006

VACATION VOCATIONDANCE RETREAT LIVING,DYINGA TRIBUTE TO OURVAJRA BROTHERVICTOR ARAUJO

by Rosemary Friend

November 2006 - I finallyorganize one-week vacationtime from my work in

Grand Cayman so I can travel toMargarita and have some time with-in beloved TDN Community andsome personal dance retreat.

Sunday, December 17, Day 1 - Iarrive to Tashigar Norte at 11amand head to Juan Griego to buysome food, then Zaragosa. Backhome I walk around the house andcatch sight of Alexi sneezing as hepulls grass. “Victor is dying” hesays. I would like to dance butinstead I drive to JG hospital and onfirst sight think he has a couple ofdays of life remaining. I drivehome, clean and dry his sheets andprepare some soup to take the fol-lowing day.

Day 2 - Heavy rain just prior to myarrival has eased and the garden isgreen and lush. I venture next doorand enjoy breakfast next door withGala, Gosha and Luda. I take theopportunity to clean and organizemy room and manage (unbe-knownst to me at the time) my lastZaragosa swim of my vacationbefore heading to JG. “Somethingis wrong”, Victor says between des-perate breaths. “The oncologist saidI had some months to live yet. Thisis too sudden. I am not ready to dieyet. Will you help me?” I discoverthat the fibro sarcoma that originat-ed in his R lateral chest wall hasbeen treated with surgery andchemotherapy; however 4 days agohe developed sudden onset of bilat-eral ankle edema and dyspnoea(respiratory difficulty). Back at theGar I dance the dance thun andpractice the Shitro with Vajra kin.Later, Michel and I agree that he

Victor wants to see his oncologist inPorlamar again. He is regularlyturning the oxygen up to 9 liters /minute in order to ‘catch hisbreath’. Hilda agrees to stay thenight so that he can relax. Alejandrasleeps with Delma. I realize beingwith Victor is going to be my danceretreat. I head home to clean bed-ding / prepare food.

Day 4 - I am in JG at 7am in orderto organize an ambulance toPorlamar. No Delma to translate soa great opportunity to refresh mySpanish. I say to Victor, “Are yousure you want to go? It is possibleyou could die in Porlamar todayand Alejandra would not be withyou. He says with wide accusingeyes, “do you think I am going todie?” “Yes” I reply, “but I don’tknow when because I don’t knowwhether the sudden increase inbreathlessness is due to heart failureonly and therefore rectifiable to adegree.”He is certain he wants to go. Thecivil protection ambulance ride intoPorlamar in the middle ofChristmas traffic is horrendous tothe point of severe nausea for me.He talks with his oncologist whoorganizes admission through theemergency room of a completelystressed public hospital system.Finally Victor pronounces that hefeels safe and trusting of the clini-cians caring for him. Every day hefinds an opportunity for humor.“The biggest surprise is that you aregoing to bury me.” I respond with,“well you’d better hurry up and diebecause I leave on Saturday.” Ireturn to JG hospital to collect hisbelongings and the nurse informsme that they have run out of oxy-gen. I arrive back to the gar in timefor the last part of the Ganapuja anda brief chat with friends. Cleanlinen, prepare food.

Day 5 - Back to Porlamar by 8am.Victor is too fragile to be moved forthe CT scan. “I want you to stayuntil this is sorted. I want to knowwhat is going on,” he says. “I cannot extend my time here. I have toreturn to work on Saturday.” Thisday, Hilda and Alejandra and Ishare in the caring as nursing staffin the public hospitals in Margaritado not change linen or pajamas, donot bathe patients, do not help

move a patient from a hot sundrenched bed to a cooler room. Bythis stage, 200lb Victor is becominga dead weight, unable to walk andless able to talk. His earth element isbeginning to dissolve. Increase indiuretic means more ‘accidents’ asoften he doesn’t have the warning tobe upright in time to catch the urine.He wants a wash, feels like a pig, nowash for almost a week. Alejandraholds the sheet up as a curtain. Wewash him, he cleans his teeth. Hildaagrees to stay the night. Home.Alejandra stays the night with me.Clean linen.

Day 6 – Porlamar by 8pm to relieveHilda. She is tired, up most of thenight as Victor is weakening rapidlyand requires assistance to sit up inorder to both breathe easier and uri-nate. He is not ready for a catheter.He again eats breakfast with gusto.The internist reviews his chest x-ray. There is virtually no lung func-tion remaining as his right lung is acomplete whiteout and only theupper left lung portion tfuis aerat-ing. The doctor believes there is nohope for recovery as Victor is suf-fering pulmonary tumor invasion +lung collapse + infection + cardiacfailure. I say to Victor, “it is timefor you to accept that, unless a mir-acle occurs, you are probably goingto die today or tomorrow, do youunderstand?” He nods his head.“And don’t forget, if you can be inthe state of instant presence at themoment of death, you can purify all

negativity.” By midday I am physi-cally very tired as Victor increasing-ly reaches his hand out as a sign forme to assist him to sit. Eventually Iam unable to lift him anymore. “Ican’t Victor I am sorry.” I hate leav-ing him lying there wet with urinebut I just don’t have the physicalstrength anymore. Between 9amand 3pm I sing the song of the Vajra3 times, the 6 lokas ~30 times andOm Ah Hum ~50 times and some-how find the energy to get him outof his wet pajama pants, change thesheet by rolling him side to side andcover him with a sheet. An attemptto catheterize him is unsuccessful.He wants to eat lunch but spits itout. He can still crush ice to keep hismouth wet. “Help me”, he cries. “Ican’t Victor, you are going to haveto do the rest yourself.” He is agitat-ed and tries to bite me. I speak in hisear, “I think your elements are dis-solving and you are having strongexperiences that are frightening. Itis important that you recognize allexperiences as part of your real statecommunicating with you and notsee them in a dualistic way. Use thatstrong mind of yours to remainpresent with A.” He nods his headand relaxes, maybe sleeping. And Isleep. I notice my own ego, frustra-tion of being alone, wanting help.Where is Hilda? She was going tocome at 2pm, now it is 4pm. I amleaving tomorrow and have had notime to do anything else. I don’tthink I can return to Porlamartomorrow. I am too exhausted. My

p a s s a g e s

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namgyalgar & the pacific rimNamgyalgar, Dzogchen Community in Australia

PO Box 214 Central TilbaNSW 2546

Tel/Fax: 61 02 4473 7668Email: namgyalg@acr.net.auWebsite:www.dzogchen.org.au

THE DZOGCHEN COMMUNITYOFNAMGYALGAR

Jim Valby TourAustralia and New Zealand,2007

Dr. Jim Valby has been a student of DzogchenMaster Chögyal Namkhai Norbu since 1982. Heearned his doctorate in Far Eastern Studies underHerbert V. Guenther at the University of Saskatchewanin 1983. He participates in Dzogchen Communitytranslation projects to help prepare English translationsof the principal early Tibetan texts of DzogchenSemde, Longde and Upadesha. He has taught theessence of the theory and practice of Sutra, Tantra andDzogchen, in more than 60 retreats, at 30 locations in20 countries. He is an authorized level 1 teacher of theSanti Maha Sangha study and practice program creat-ed by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. Jim lives in WesternMassachusetts, USA.

March 23 – 25Auckland, New Zealand Public Teaching

March 31 – April 1Melbourne, VictoriaPublic Teaching

April 6 – 10 (Easter) Namgyalgar, NSWOpen SMS Retreat

April 11 – 14 Namgyalgar, NSWSMS Level 1 Retreat

April 20 – 22 Sydney, NSWPublic Teaching

For enquiries and bookings, please contact The SecretaryTel/Fax: 61 2 4473 7668Email: namgyalg@acr.net.au

1st Prize - One return Air Ticketbetween two international air-ports to attend a retreat withChögyal Namkhai Norbu of yourchoice anywhere in the world.

2nd Prize - Hand Painted Thanka

3rd Prize - One-week personalretreat at Namgyalgar.

Ticket price: =AUS$30 each, or 2 for AUS$50.

This raffle is authorized by

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu for theInternational DzogchenCommunity and is for the raising offunds to support Namgyalgar.

Tickets will be drawn when all400 tickets have been solda(hopefully by the end of 2006,otherwise early 2007)

To purchase a ticket please emailMadeleine Fogarty, FundraisingCoordinator of the NamgyalgarYellow Gakyil at:madeleinef@iprimus.com.au

PASSAGES

BORN: Miro, newly born on of EllieLoudon and Steph Kerr ofMelbourne Australia. New brotherto Asher. Congratulations!

NEW GEKÖS AT NAMGYALGAR

Welcome to Eze Sluzny as the new Gekös of Namgyalgar.Eze is supported by new SMS scholarship student, Emily Coleing, whois a Namgyalgar Yantra Yoga instructor.The Gekös can be contacted at:Email at: ezechiel1@gmail.comTel: 02 44737770 / Mobile: 0448244474Postal Address: C/- PO Box 14 Central Tilba NSW 2546

NAMGYALGAR MAINTENENCE RAFFLE

HOUSE FOR SALE NEARTASHIGAR NORTE

MARGARITA ISLAND,VENEZUELA

Located in the main street of Pedro Gonzalez village, this very com-fortable house comprises of 2 apartments: 3 bedrooms, 2 bathroomseach, with independent entrance on 2 floors. Total surface: 250m2.Beautiful back yard garden with barbecue, roofed churuata, manycoconut palms and other fruit trees. Perfect condition: new roofs,high wall, electric fence, a/c, ceiling fans, mosquito screensthroughout, fully equipped and furnished, 25,000 lts water tank. Price: USD 130,000For any further information contact Beata Debarge: beata.debarge@gmail.com

body is aching from moving himaround so much. He is sooo heavy. Isay to him, “Victor, I am going tosay goodbye to you in about ?hour”. I find the energy to changehis sheet one more time. I ask thehelp of a family member of a neigh-bor patient. I wash my hands andwhen I look again at Victor, he isflat on his back and his breathinghas changed, Cheyne-stokes. He isgoing. I whisper in his ear, “yourbreathing has changed and you aredying now Victor, remember allvisions that appear are your ownstate, don’t be afraid, remember A”.I phone Hilda, “Victor muerteahora” is all I can manage to say.His breathing stops. His heart con-tinues. A nurse wants to move him.I tell her not to touch him. A doctorarrives to confirm his death byECG. Hilda arrives as his heartfinally stops. I whisper into his ear,“now you are dead Victor, yourheart has stopped beating. You willsee that if you try to talk to peoplethey will not respond to you and ifyou go outside you have no shadow.Now they are going to take yourbody to the morgue. A.” I am sur-prised how quickly they insist tomove the body. The funeral will betomorrow as this is a hot country.Hilda stays to deal with the paper-work. I return to Pedro Gonzalezand drop by my friends Niko,Odalis and Julia to say hello andgoodbye before returning to the gar.Clean linen. Sleep is not sleeping.

Day 7 – Saturday, breakfast withGala, Gosha and Luda. Bodyaching. Quick visit to returnVictor’s belongings and check onHilda and Alejandra. The casket isin the lounge room. I can hardlybelieve how beautiful Victor is, heappears beatific. A. A. A.

Coffee with Delma. Hot shower andclearing massage thank you thankyou Gala. Lunch with Carmen,Michel and Davide. Funeral at 4pm.As I stand in the church besideAlejandra and hold her sobbingbody, I realize that we both lovedVictor. He was a good dad, sinceregenerous and loving. And he was agenerous friend with Jerri and Iwhen we arrived in Margarita. Hewas generous, playful, intelligentand he could be annoying and per-sistent at times. As he said in his lastdays, ‘I am looking after my owninterests.’

Day 10 - I am back in Cayman nowand I remember how in 2002Gilberto picked this guy up when hedidn’t usually pick up hitchhikers.And I remember him receiving theprecious 2002 Longsal teachings atNaomi’s request to Rinpoche hav-ing had no prior exposure toDzogchen. And I remember the funI had during our Spanish lessons inthe chickencoup-come-comedorwith Gala, Gosha, Karin, Laura,Naomi, etc. And I thank you Victor,for giving me the experience ofdying with you. And I can say thatthe only other experience thatcomes close is sitting in a purposebuilt medical shelter with 200 peo-ple surviving 8 hours of 160 mileper hour winds during the hurricanethat besieged and almost complete-ly destroyed Grand Cayman Islandin 2004 - Ivan the Terrible. And it isall perfect. E Ma Ho.

being thankful to my parents whogave me this human body that is sodifficult to obtain, my new life cer-tainly “started” in that August of1986 at Merigar.In these years of practice, whichhave often been obstacled by myincomprehension of the real senseof the teaching, at various times Ihave felt the turmoil in his fatherlyheart about exterior things whichcondition the relationships betweendisciples and between them and theworld of samsara. I have felt ourfailures sadden the Master, like itsaddens those around us who havehidden faith in us. But unlike thosewho condemn the mistakes of oth-ers without the possibility of anappeal, the Master knows how toaccompany his students even alongthe most arduous paths, even wheresociety punishes the weakest and,often for this, most sensitive indi-viduals. The teacher explains a method andour inability to follow it is that of achild who would like to walk likehis parents and tries and tries untilhe manages and starts to be moresure on his feet. In my experience areal Master is the mirror that showsthe mechanism of this process, untilthe child observing the reflectionnot only knows how to walk on theground but is also able to fly withthat part of himself which is to dowith the spirit and the mind.One of the things that struck me themost during those teachings in thewood was the description of a tripfrom Rome to Milan which couldbe direct or divided up into stagesand detours. I found myself in thatdefinition like someone struck byan arrow who discovers that he isn’tdead yet on the battlefield of life. IfI had the strength, I could alwayshave reached Milan one day with-out going through Palermo orKathmandu.Milan is the end of samsara, and thedifferent teachings are numerousoases where we can bask in a frag-

ment of the experience that awaitsus in the hereafter. This is an imagethat comes to my mind today whenI and so many practitioners are suf-fering the consequences of this dif-ficult epoch, in which it is truly fit-ting for us to keep ourselves strongand steadfastly anchored in theteaching that no typhoon can sweepaway. The teaching is not an inven-tion of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu,the Dalai Lama or the great tulkusor the past. Buddha said that each of his wordsshould be verified just like is donewith mercury in order to recognizegold, because wisdom is more pre-cious than gold. It is sufficient toread and re-read any one of the writ-ings of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu orsee them in a video to discover thatyou cannot find a single word that isnot the truth or not said to increasethe awareness of his disciples.The Santi Maha Sangha was themost demanding experience in mylife as a disciple and I still reflect onthe reason why I shouldn’t apply theprinciples learned from the experi-ence of so much wisdom to the let-ter.Worldly life rushes by dragging youinto its vortex and sucking awayyour spiritual energy with the dailystruggle to survive, to be safe, to eat.The challenge of death makes youfeel impermanent even more. Butinstead of welcoming this imperma-nence as part of the cycle, we strug-

gle for permanence without realiz-ing it. “Why struggle when you canrelax?”, Rinpoche said to me onmore than one occasion.Meeting a real Master is, in myexperience, principally a great emo-tional upheaval with aftershocksthat could last one or more life-times. Only after I had understoodthe basis of Chögyal NamkhaiNorbu’s instructions was I able tomeet and receive teachings fromHis Holiness the Dalai Lama, liber-ated from attachment to the figureand to the mundane aspect whichmight confuse those who come tothe Dharma and become “Tibetan”or warriors of the cause of this peo-ple who have been suffering somuch and so long.Fortunately Buddha is not a God.He is, like the Master, a supportwho guides us on the path that hehas already known. Let’s walk it forthis and many other lifetimes tocome under their guidance. Thegurus are disguised as brothers or attimes as enemies, as bridges to crossand obstacles to overcome, as spiri-tual fathers as in my case and – ofthis I am certain – in the case of alarge number of Chögyal NamkhaiNorbu’s students.Through my Master I pay homagewith him to all the Gurus of thenature of the mind.Long Life to our Precious Master.

Vacation, vocation, the passage of Victor continued from previous page

How I Met ChNN con’t from page 20

18

ACCOMMODATION SERVICE AT MERIGAR

INFORMATION FOR PEOPLE WHO INTEND TO COME TO MERIGAR FORRETREATS OR TO FOLLOW COURSES

If you are looking for accommodation, airport transfer, local car hire or only logistic assis-tance, you can contact the following information and reservation service:

Accommodation Service

(Information available in English, German, French and Italian) Information service andreservation of accommodation during retreats, local transport, & logistic solutions:

Christina von GeispitzheimEmail: accomodationservice@libero.it

Tel: 0039 0564 957542Mobile phone: 0039 339 1370739

We cooperate with local hotels, family pensions, residences, agriturismo, Community mem-bers who have rooms or houses to rent or sublet. Also we can advise on car rental (at airportsor locally), on the best itinerary and time tables of trains and buses, and we have now a circuitof residents who offer various useful services like transfer from the airports, local taxi service,

translations, baby sitting, etc.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE

MIRROR @ www.melong.com

There are a variety of ways to sub-scribe to The Mirror. In some Garsand Communities The Mirror isincluded in membership. You needto check with your local Gar orCommunity to find out.Otherwise you can go on line towww.melong.com and there youcan subscribe from everywhere inthe world. We offer paper only for$35US, online only for $25US and$45US for both. You can alsoupgrade, if you receive a paperonly copy with your membershipyou can upgrade on line paying$10US, and if you get an onlineonly subscription included in yourmembership, you can pay a $20USupgrade and receive both. Onlyolder editions of The Mirror can beprinted out from the online version. If you live in certain countries in SAmerica, please contact NaomiZeitz at mirror@tsegyalgar.org formore information about possiblerate reductions. Meritorious members receive bothpaper and on line subscriptions toThe Mirror.

In the US you can write a check orcall in, email or fax credit cardinformation. Checks need to bemade out to The Mirror. The tele-phone numbers to call in with are:Mirror Office: 413 369 4208Secretary: 413 369 4153 andBookstore:413 369 4473. The faxnumber is 413 369 4473. We alsoaccept postal money orders andinternational money orders.

The postal address for main Mirroroffice is The Mirror, PO Box 277,Conway MA 01341 USA

In Europe please contact LizGranger at: lizmirror@tiscalinet.it

In Australia and the Pacific Rimcontact Jenny O’Donnell at: jodonnell@hermes.net.au

Thank you!The Mirror

is the in-depth, practice-oriented journal for Buddhists of all traditions. Brought to you by the publishers of the Shambhala Sun, Buddhadharma takes you deeper into the practice, furthers your understanding of the dharma, and connects you with fellow practitioners.

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Subscribe todayand receive four outstanding issues of Buddhadharma–starting with the upcoming issue–for only $19.95. Call toll-free 1- 877-786-1950 or visit www.thebuddhadharma.com.

Meet Harada Roshi The Winter issueof Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly presentsan illuminating discussion with Harada Roshi than runs the gamut — from Zen

training in the West to nationalism to the insecurity of our times. � ALSO IN THE ISSUE:

Thanissaro Bhikkhu presents a Theravada view of emptiness, emphasizing the

integrity of one’s actions. � And a teaching by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso on the

Mahamudra view that is “like a lance

that flashes free in the open sky.”

Many Buddhists, one Buddhadharma

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T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 6 19

INTERNAINTERNATIONALTIONAL GAKYILGAKYIL NEWSNEWS

DEAR MEMBERS OF THE

INTERNATIONAL DZOGCHEN

COMMUNITY,

Many of you have registered to theCollaboration Website over the lastmonths. Many of you still did not.

While working together with YeshiNamkhai on parts of the site as anAssistant Website Administrator, Ifound that often there seem to bethe same questions arising.Here are a few answers to frequent-ly asked questions (FAQ):

Question: Who should register atthe Collaboration Website?

Answer: Persons who committed towork actively for the DzogchenCommunity as members of aGakyil, but also as responsible con-tact person for the InternationalGakyil, the Shang Shung Institute,etc. Also those who collaborate inother functions, as website adminis-trator of their local Communities,or edit publications, newsletters, etc.The Gakyil of the country decides,who their collaborators are and

sends a list to the red InternationalGakyil, Karin Eisenegger-Koppensteiner <garuda@bluewin.ch>.Lists have to be updated regularlywhen the Gakyil changes.

Question: How and where do I reg-ister?

Answer: Go to the website<www.dzogchencommunity.net/collaboration>.When you try to enter the site, ablue window appears. For registra-tion you need to fill in ANDREMEMBER WELL the usernameand a password. Then you clickbelow left on the phrase “registerme”. After this, a form appearswhich you should fill in.It is IMPORTANT when filling inthe form to choose the right“Company”, because this definesyour access area. If you work inNew Caledonia, you have tochoose as your “company” “NewCaledonia”. If you work in a Gar,choose the Gar from the list, if at aLing, choose the Ling.IN CASE you cannot find your

“company” in the list, please con-tact me by email. Then I will createyour “company” and add it to thelist. Only after can you register cor-rectly.

Question: When do I have access tothe Website?Answer: After you have completedthe form and sent your application,your application for access to thesite arrives at a list. The next time Iwork on this list, I will activate youraccess and send you an email.

This FAQ will be continued verysoon. Please send your questions.

GreetingsKarin Eisenegger-Koppensteiner(Red International Gakyil)Assistant Website Administrator

LindenhofLindenweg 3CH - 6288 SchongauSwitzerland

Tel: 0041 41 917 02 45Fax: 0041 41 917 02 46

Dear Gakyil Members,

Many Gakyils have not yet sent the list of those persons who should beallowed to access the Collaboration Website in their “Company”.This tool of the “Collaboration Website” is still developing in order to bemore and more useful for the International Dzogchen Community.Therefore, it would be helpful if a list of all practitioners who actively col-laborate with the Gakyil (like IPC members, newsletter responsibles, pub-lishers, etc.) is sent to me by each Gakyil.We are receiving so many requests for access that we really need this infor-mation otherwise this tool will prove less useful on the long run.

Thank you for your help!

Karin Eisenegger-Koppensteiner (red IG)Assistant Website Administrator

LindenhofLindenweg 3CH - 6288 SchongauSwitzerland

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nation of the Mandarava practiceand the relative chudlen purifica-tion and, among other things,Rinpoche explained the principle ofthe mirror, perhaps the first of thegreat revelations on the nature ofthe mind which I absorbed just likethat strange Tibetan medicine. The night after I had drunk thedecoction of seeds which, amongothers, had great therapuetic prop-erties, I spent the next night unableto sleep with images of the past andthe present reflected and recurringin my mind in a completely differ-ent light. I clearly linked all of thisconfusion to the teachings I wasreceiving, similar to an inner earth-quake of, what was for me at thetime, infinite proportions.One morning the already problem-atic audio system in the wood (atthat time Merigar didn’t have muchtechnology) totally broke down andI offered Rinpoche my cassetterecorder with microphone. For sev-eral minutes the Master tried tocontinue his lesson but it didn’twork very well and so he just usedhis voice which was clear andstrong. I’ve thought about it oftenand over a long period of time andfelt that this was the sign that withall my experience in communica-tion in the West, I should have beenable to give a better microphone tothe Master because of my work inthe media.I only managed that task in thesmallest way, because of my limits

and the limits that the massmedia has in general to favorsensational events with possi-bly negative connotationswithout leaving much margin-al space to themes of religionand the spirit. Not to mentionthe arrogance of those whoput together TV programs orthe pages of the newspapersand who “make news” withthe same well-known names,without considering importantfigures who precisely becauseof their distance from thecompetitive media mentalityare an example of coherencethrough their spiritual princi-ples and ideals.After meeting the Master andfollowing his retreats, I soondiscovered a new capacity toperceive news reporting as amanifestation of a mundanepower which also had hidden,possibly esoteric characteris-tics. That opening in the wallwhich had previously isolatedone context from another, as ifthings happened in a discon-nected way, without logic,allowed me to compare cul-tures and traditions, with allthe repercussions they face inthe day to day challenge of thetimes in which we are living.I didn’t fully realize this pro-gressive opening initially,absorbed as I was in under-standing the intellectual sideof the Master’s teachings and

20

H O W I M E T C H Ö G YA L N A M K H A I N O R B Uby Raimondo Bultrini

Ihad been looking for a lifelongMaster for some time and oneday I had the unparalleled for-

tune to meet Namkhai Norbu Rin-poche. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu isa man whose wisdom helped mymind, a mind that was suffering andwanting to understand.I had received a very Catholic edu-cation in the little town where Igrew up. I had always considered ita sin of presumptuousness to wantto Know, since Knowledge of myreligion of birth was like a sacro-sanct secret of Paradise. Graduallyan insatiable thirst to know over-whelmed me to the point of condi-tioning each action and decision ofmy existence.It was the summer of 1986 and Iturned thirty. By this point I knewabout worldly life, made up of illu-sions and worries, of continual rad-ical changes, of expectations anddisappointments. But I still won-dered where was the subtle doorthat opened into the other universeof the spirit and that allowed you toeventually understand the meaningof death? At thirty-three I had juststarted to have awareness of deathas a dominant aspect in humanbehaviour, but I had no idea howimportant it could be to understandits significance as an inseparablepart of the cycle of existence.For this reason the words ofGiorgio Horn, my first dharmabrother in the DzogchenCommunity, had an effect on meimmediately. Giorgio had alreadyparticipated in one of the firstretreats given by the Master whenMerigar was still being built, andthe day before the start of a retreatin August 1986, he suggested that Igo with him to Arcidosso. In a fewwords, he told me that it was ateaching on death or dying. In themorning when I woke up, Iresolved to go to the hills ofAmiata. It was only after some time that Ilinked the name of Chögyal

Namkhai Norbu withthat of the Professor atthe Oriental Universityin Naples filmed byPaolo Brunatto for adocumentary while hewas speaking in Italianto his students inside alarge cave in Nepal(Maratika).At that time I knewabsolutely nothingabout TibetanBuddhism or that dif-ferent forms ofBuddhism were practiced.Furthermore I couldn’t imaginethat Dzogchen in itself couldn’teven be classified as being exclu-sively Buddhist. I was working asan investigatory journalist for the‘Unita’, the daily newspaper of theItalian Communist Party and myfaith in the effectiveness of appliedMarxism had already collapsedwithin the walls of the editorialoffice way before the collapse inBerlin. Like many others, I nolonger searched for an ideal answeror ideology, but was minimallyaware that the roots of inner andouter conflicts did not come aboutfrom the fault of a political party ora dishonest boss.So even though I really didn’t knowwhat I was going to meet along theway, I sat in the little wood near theruins of what was to becomeRinpoche’s house. The Master wasspeaking with a sort of homemademicrophone and straight away Ithought that he was a good masterbecause he didn’t give importanceto form. I noticed the great respectthat everyone showed towards himeven though nobody was prostrat-ing or bowing their head to receivehis blessings. The context of hisexplanations that first day wasrather obscure, but I instinctivelyfelt able to understand them with alittle practice because what he wassaying had already been echoing inmy mind for some time in the formof tormenting questions. The firstteaching I received was the expla-

the world that surroundedme. For this reason theyear I spent with him inTibet, in 1988, was soimportant.I had the great opportuni-ty to live with ChögyalNamkhai Norbu for sev-eral months during hispilgrimage to the placesof his masters in EastTibet. At that timeRinpoche was the age Iam now and was relaxedabout everything even

though I lived in fear of doingsomething wrong and upsettinghim.I don’t know how I got to such ofpoint of familiarity that I had thecourage to ask him if I could gowith him to Tibet. But for me thatjourney was the only possible wayof leaving behind an existencebased on dependence on an existen-tial mechanism founded on compe-tition in order to reach a positionand on every type of temporarypleasure compensating these frus-trations. I have written elsewhere and I hopeto be able to continue to write atlength on what took place duringthat extraordinary period and whichneeds a lifetime in order to under-stand its meaning. In Tibet I devel-oped a feeling of immense respectfor a culture which had known howto preserve that vital power ofwords and sounds. Each mantrarecited, each image or story toldgave life to the masters of the pastand showed the divinity as if it wasreally all around us, so devotedlywere the divinities evoked andrespected by an entire people.At the end of the journey my bodyand my mind were light as they hadrarely been during my previous life,and only after a long time did I startto lose the sensation of freedom thata mind truly dedicated to the dhar-ma offers, falling back into theanalogous mechanisms andrhythms of the West with all thepersonal emotional stress of itsinhabitants, far away from the rela-tionship with the divine that waspart of the behavior of so manymen, women and children in eachand every village of the Tibetanplateau.Of course I was aware of the sur-rounding social and political condi-tions in which the Tibetans lived inrelationship to the Han Chinese, butthe condition of lightness was dueto the observation that a man canfree himself from many superfluousburdens in his mind and enjoy thatstate of grace – something I hadexperienced next to ChögyalNamkhai Norbu – in each momentof his existence if he wishes. Animage among many others.We are in Lhasa, in the inner court-yard of the beautiful house belong-ing to Sonam Palmo, one ofRinpoche’s dearest sisters.Rinpoche leafs through the post onthe table that continuously arrivesfrom every part of the world. I askhim if it will be difficult to keep thissame lightness once we go back.Rinpoche doesn’t think for even asecond. “Well, it depends howmuch you are able to enjoy. I enjoy,we enjoy and we are not self-con-scious about it. Those who remainwithin the limits of liking and dis-liking can do what they please”.It goes without saying that I com-pletely went back to my limits.The descent started the moment inwhich – pushed by who knowswhat – I wanted to pick up again or

reintegrate into the karma that hadbeen temporarily lifted and fromwhose burden I thought I had liber-ated myself.I took up my old work as a journal-ist again changing my way of work-ing (I produced documentariesrather than press articles) but onceagain fell into the same limits ofambition and competition as before. And yet I shouldn’t have forgotten– one of the many forgotten things -the dream that came before thejourney. In those days I started tohelp Rinpoche while he preparedhis lessons for Tibetan students atthe Institute for the Minorities inPeking at the house of DonatellaRossi, one of the most expertTibetologists in the Community. Ican see it as clearly as if it was hap-pening today. I didn’t know yetwhether I had got the necessary per-mits from the authorities to go intothe Autonomous Region. I was in asmall rented room at Beità universi-ty where I went every evening afterpassing the entire day with theMaster. One night I saw myself onthe peak of a mountain that over-looked valleys bordered by riversand lakes. There was a big bird nextto me and when it opened its wings,I hesitatingly imitated his eagle-likeflight and, sweeping beneath mygaze, saw wonderful views likethose I would actually see there afew weeks later.I discovered that if there is a stronglink with the Guru and his mundaneactions for the benefit of his disci-ples and those are able to be in con-tact with him, it passes eventhrough dreams as a manifestationof a mind that wants to free itselffrom the cage of the physical bodyand matter. Wasn’t this probablymy answer to the cage of fear aboutdeath itself? While I was passing through theborder town between Pakistan andAfghanistan during the USA war,surrounded by fanatical crowdsscreaming “Death to theAmericans” (the fact that I wasItalian certainly didn’t exclude mefrom the intentions of the crowd,without considering that my coun-try was also an ally of the USA), Iwrote to Rinpoche about all myfears. The Master didn’t reply to mesaying that I shouldn’t be afraid ofdeath because everything is an illu-sion. He understood that I neededpractical psychological help andexplained that he himself had livedwith the same fears many times inthis and in other lives, and that, inany case, he would pray that noth-ing would happen to me.I cannot attribute the lucky escape Ihad during a trip with a group ofjournalists who were massacrednear Jalalabad (among them a closeItalian colleague) simply to prayers. An instinctive intuition to avoidprofessionally tempting expeditionswhich were, however, fraught withdangers was, nevertheless, certainlybased on my understanding of thosepractices which help to unmask andneutralize the demon of pride. Infact it was this very thing thatpushed me to go to the front line toget a front page story while riskingmy life and the suffering that Iwould have caused my family. Today, once again, as the Mastercomes to my help during difficultmoments, I have no other meansbut these stories to pay homage to aman who I consider as my secondfather, superior to the first becausefor me the level of existence of thespirit is superior to that of matter.And even though I will never finish

continued on page 17

Raimondo on location in Afghanistan