Ligmincha International News

Forty-Three Trainings for an Enlightened Mind – New Book Translated by Raven Cypress Wood

The newest publication from Sacred Sky Press is now available through Ligmincha Store: Forty-Three Trainings for an Enlightened Mind and Other Divine Writings, by Kundun Sonam Lodro, the 22nd Menri Trizin, translated by Raven Cypress Wood.

The book presents four short texts by the 22nd Menri Trizin (1784-1835) and a series of appendices by the translator that offer valuable context, background and explication for the reader. The main text, the Forty-Three Mind Trainings, outlines in a clear and quintessential way the conditions necessary to experience and realize one’s own nature of mind, the methods for developing and expanding it, and the fruit of practice.

Through his boundless wisdom and compassion, Kundun Sonam Lodro’s teachings reflect the views of sutra, tantra and dzogchen all at once. He teaches the paths of renunciation, transformation and of leaving it as it is. As such, his verses are not easy to paraphrase or summarize. Almost every verse can stand alone and merits reflection.

Consider Verse 4: Attachment to friends and relatives is like boiling water. Hatred towards enemies is like a blazing fire. Designating what to accept and what to reject is like being enveloped in the darkness of close-mindedness. By abandoning the homeland, the root of virtue is established.

Here we see advice to turn away from worldly attachment in the first sentence, in keeping with sutric teachings. In the second sentence he warns about the poison of anger and aversion, but also brings in a tantric viewpoint, transforming that energy into bodhicitta, or unbounded compassion. Abandoning what to accept and what to reject, we move toward the nonduality of the dzogchen view. Finally we are advised to abandon our homeland. This can be read as a method of renouncing outer obstacles of home and place, or of allowing one’s own naked awareness to become empty and rootless, similar to the advice found in the Invocation of Tapihritsa. Every verse of this text is equally rich and worthy of contemplation.

Without exception, suffering and misery arise from desiring happiness for only myself. A perfect buddha arises from a mind that benefits others. Because of that, I will develop the doubtless ability to exchange my happiness with the suffering of others.
Forty-Three Trainings, page 22

 

While Forty-Three Trainings for an Enlightened Mind is a largely analytic text, guiding us to see and understand the causes of suffering and the path that leads from it, it is followed by three more experiential prayers that lead us to contemplate our own suffering and its causes and to seek dharma as the medicine. The first is a meditation on the causes of worldly suffering and a prayer to the root lama to lead us to great bliss. The second is a prayer to the lama to remove the obstacles along the spiritual path that lead to suffering or block realization.

The third and longest of the prayers begins with a supplication to Kuntu Zangpo and the ultimate state of one’s own realized mind. This is the goal of practice. Taking refuge in all worthy beings and objects, it then guides us to purify our mindstream by experientially encountering the enlightened wisdom of the buddhas in each of the six lokas and chakras of the subtle body, and then realizing the inseparability of all the buddhas from one’s own awakened awareness. Finally, His Holiness the 22nd Menri Trizin reveals how awakened awareness manifests. This beautifully translated prayer can inspire one to a deeper place of devotion, connection and commitment to practice and benefit others.

Forty Three Trainings for an Enlightened Mind is a very short text, with 27 of its 92 pages the Tibetan language version of the four translated texts. Following the Tibetan texts, the translator provides four explanatory appendices and a glossary of terms. But in that space it unpacks all aspects of practice, from what is needed to practice successfully in the first place, to the outer conduct and meditations that will tame our mindstream, to all the inner signs of realization. One would be hard pressed to find a more clear, concise or beautifully rendered description of the path of practice.

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Annual Spring Retreat: Heartdrops of Kuntu Zangpo

Annual Spring Retreat: Heartdrops of Kuntu Zangpo

Join us April 13–16 at Serenity Ridge or on Zoom for the Ligmincha’s annual spring retreat on Heartdrops of Kuntu Zangpo, also known as Heartdrops of Dharmakaya.

Heartdrops of Kuntu Zangpo provides methods for introducing the nature of the mind, which remains hidden behind clouds of thoughts and emotions until a master directly points out the source, the essence, the Heart Drop. This is the method of direct introduction to dzogchen, the highest and most subtle path of meditation in Bön. 

Winter Retreat Continues Experiential Transmission Dzogchen Series

Winter Retreat Continues Experiential Transmission Dzogchen Series

The Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung is the centerpiece of Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s dzogchen teachings held every December at Serenity Ridge. This year, Rinpoche continues the third year of this five-year cycle. Attendance is possible both in person at Serenity Ridge and online via Zoom. The retreat begins on December 26 at 7 p.m. New York time and concludes around 2 p.m. on January 1, 2023.

Opening Your Heart to the World 3 Doors Retreat with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

Opening Your Heart to the World 3 Doors Retreat with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

Join Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, founder of The Three Doors, September 10–11 for a very special weekend retreat on Zoom. The 3 Doors is an international organization that offers meditation programs with opportunities to meditate in community and integrate meditation into your everyday life for the benefit of self and others. Everyone is welcome!

 Rinpoche will guide participants to connect with the inner refuge of an open heart of wisdom and compassion during two full days of teaching. Practices will be guided by 3 Doors senior teachers

Join Rinpoche in Crestone, Colorado in September for Part 2 of A-Tri Dzogchen

Join Rinpoche in Crestone, Colorado in September for Part 2 of A-Tri Dzogchen

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will return to Crestone, Colorado September 23–25 to continue his teaching on the dzogchen text, The Stages of A-tri Meditation. The A-tri is an essential meditation guide to one of the three main dzogchen lineages in the Tibetan Bon tradition.

Rinpoche will present these teachings at the beautiful Colorado College campus in Crestone, Colorado, and simultaneously with our worldwide sangha via Zoom.

Join Us for the Newly Combined 2022 Fall Retreat and Serenity Ridge Dialogues in October

Join Us for the Newly Combined 2022 Fall Retreat and Serenity Ridge Dialogues in October

For the first time this fall, Fall Retreat and Serenity Ridge Dialogues will merge! The retreat, titled The Five Elements and Serenity Ridge Dialogues, will be held October 11–16, both at Serenity Ridge Retreat Center in Virginia and online via Zoom.

In the mornings, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will teach on the five elements. The afternoons will bring presenters together around specific areas of scientific investigation to explore how practices work.

New Book by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche: The Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen

New Book by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche: The Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s newest book, The Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen: Teachings and Commentary on an Ancient Dzogchen Text, is now available in the Ligmincha Bookstore and Tibet Shop. The book is based on teachings that Rinpoche gave during his 2020 summer retreat.

The teachings and commentary in this book are based on a profound text on the nature of mind called The Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen by Drenpa Namkha.

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