When I first started reading this site, I was looking for your weird spots -- I knew they'd be there. Indeed your group is eccentric - but then creativity and fresh-living is eccentric. But psychosis and charismatic hypnosis is also weird. Weirdness is a place to find life or blindness and thus discernment is critical.
After coming this far in the readings, you make the group feel very sound, live, creative and self-insightful.
Questions:
(1) Are your root Lamas in Nepal considered weird in their circles? Are they part of an order or just a solo weirdo who picks up and markets to traveling foreigners to make a living?
(2) How do your Nepalese/Tibetan root Lamas look at what Rinpoche started in the West. Have they visited?
Yes, we are mostly "mildly eccentric" rather than "wild and crazy."
The Lamas in India and Nepal were root Lamas to Ngak'chang Rinpoche, but mostly not to the rest of the Aro sangha. (A few other Aro students were also students of Chhi'méd Rig'dzin Rinpoche and of Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche.) All of them are dead now—Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche was the last, and died three moths ago.
All of them were prominent and accredited Nyingma Lamas; Dudjom Rinpoche and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche both were Heads of the Nyingma, for whatever that is worth. (The Nyingma generally regard the "Head" position as somewhat farcical, although certainly the Lamas that have gotten stuck with it have all been highly-regarded.) Chhi'mèd Rig'dzin Rinpoche narrowly escaped being Head—he wrote a letter about that to Ngak'chang Rinpoche, which I've posted on this site somewhere.
Lamas from the yogic wing of the Nyingma—which all of them were—are eccentric more-or-less as part of the job description. Künzang Dorje Rinpoche was probably the one who was regarded as most peculiar, for his obvious total lack of interest in Tibetan social conventions. He was also less well-known than the others (probably because he refused to do the things famous Lamas are required to do). He was highly revered, though. I never met him, but at least half the Aro sangha did. Many people have told me stories about being out walking with him in Boudha (Kathmandu), and the respect shown to him by Tibetans who met him on the street there.
Regarding question #2. You'd probably do well to skip ahead now to this page, which will answer some related questions. In short: Dudjom Rinpoche encouraged Ngak'chang Rinpoche to teach, and especially to develop the Ngakpa tradition in the West. He gave Rinpoche's official organization its name (Sang-ngak-chö-dzong), but died before his instructions bore much fruit. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was encouraging but too busy being Head to have meaningful input. Lama Yeshé Dorje Rinpoche initially instructed Ngak'chang Rinpoche to create a center in Britain, but after a breakdown in their relationship, denounced Ngak'chang Rinpoche as unqualified to teach. As far as I know, he never said anything about the Aro gTér or the Aro sangha, however. Chhi'mèd Rig'dzin Rinpoche was Ngak'chang Rinpoche's main teacher during the initial formation of the Aro sangha, and visited several times for long periods. He strongly approved of Ngak'chang Rinpoche's teaching and organization, and the two taught together on a number of occasions. It's not clear what he thought of the Aro gTér itself; he seems to have said different things about that to different people. Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche was also very supportive, met with much of the Aro sangha, and formed close relationships with several Aro students. He never came to the West, however.
Oh, and by the way. Ngak'chang Rinpoche's current round of teaching is based on a book he is writing about his relationships with his own Lamas, especially Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche. It is titled Wisdom Eccentrics. If you go to the March 2011 public retreats, it's likely that this will be the subject.
Without diagrams, my poor memory can barely handle all those foreign names, but I am trying. I have on my list to make a diagram to keep it straight. But that was a fun history and I shall refer to it. It does show some of the stuff I was trying to understand.
Somewhere you wrote something I agree with -- I am poorly paraphrasing:
I don't care if a teaching is the original stuff of the Buddha [or of any proper lineage], I care that it fits with me and works well.
Mahayoga is the yana concerned with ritual performance and particularly the chanting of texts.
This is incomplete to a degree amounting to misstatement. What you are describing is what the Nyingma teachings generally describe as the Outer Tantras:
"With the Outer Yoga (Upa-yoga), ritual purity and other observances found in the former [Kriya and Carya--ed.] Tantras are only aids to the realization of the path. The primary concern of these teachings is the inward contemplation and introspection to directly perceive, in an atmosphere of meditative settledness, the functioning of the mind...."
In the Inner Tantras, however, "...the Mahayoga presents a third truth, and teaches how to become enlightened in this very lifetime. All the emotions are used as vehicles to heighten awareness and each situation presents its potentiality, becoming transformed into the deities of the Mandala...[each Yidam] manifests the body speech and mind of the Nirmanakaya, Samboghakaya, and Dharmakaya. Through the internal practice of Sadhana, rituals, mudras, and mantras, the mind becomes a mirror-like mandala."
~Tarthang Tulku, Crystal Mirror V
You have rituals and text chanting in the Mahayoga [or in it's very approximate Sarma equivalent Anuttarayoga], but they are not the point of Mahayoga. What is crucial is the Developing Stage of the inner visualizations, just as the Anu Yoga is the application of the Fulfillment Stage of the inner visualizations to practical yoga techniques such as tummo.
I don't wish to appear sectarian. My root guru is a Karma Kagyudpa Khenpo and--since we hold some [mostly terma] Nyingma teachings--depending on the context, he teaches either the Sarma Three Yana system or the Nyingma Nine Yana system. He is very explicit in his assertion that the Nine Yana system is, in fact, superior.
If the Aro ter does have many rituals and texts is one matter, if it does not have many of the inner visualizations that the texts and rituals describe and embody, that is another. I think you should undertake to clarify this issue.
You are quite right; thank you for pointing this out. What I wrote was careless and just plain wrong. Re-reading it, I'm not even sure quite was I was trying to say. I've updated the text of the page accordingly.
Your final sentence neatly explains why the deemphasis of ritual performance is helpful. Too often it seems that, in Tibetan everyday practice-on-the-ground, the inner practice of the sadhana is lost, and replaced with mere recitation. The Aro gTér mostly omits the outward practice, in order to concentrate on the inner aspects (visualization, tsa rlung, formless meditation).
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Comments
When I first started reading
31 Dec 2010
When I first started reading this site, I was looking for your weird spots -- I knew they'd be there. Indeed your group is eccentric - but then creativity and fresh-living is eccentric. But psychosis and charismatic hypnosis is also weird. Weirdness is a place to find life or blindness and thus discernment is critical.
After coming this far in the readings, you make the group feel very sound, live, creative and self-insightful.
Questions:
(1) Are your root Lamas in Nepal considered weird in their circles? Are they part of an order or just a solo weirdo who picks up and markets to traveling foreigners to make a living?
(2) How do your Nepalese/Tibetan root Lamas look at what Rinpoche started in the West. Have they visited?
Another fine post, thanks.
Eccentric Lamas
31 Dec 2010
Yes, we are mostly "mildly eccentric" rather than "wild and crazy."
The Lamas in India and Nepal were root Lamas to Ngak'chang Rinpoche, but mostly not to the rest of the Aro sangha. (A few other Aro students were also students of Chhi'méd Rig'dzin Rinpoche and of Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche.) All of them are dead now—Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche was the last, and died three moths ago.
All of them were prominent and accredited Nyingma Lamas; Dudjom Rinpoche and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche both were Heads of the Nyingma, for whatever that is worth. (The Nyingma generally regard the "Head" position as somewhat farcical, although certainly the Lamas that have gotten stuck with it have all been highly-regarded.) Chhi'mèd Rig'dzin Rinpoche narrowly escaped being Head—he wrote a letter about that to Ngak'chang Rinpoche, which I've posted on this site somewhere.
Lamas from the yogic wing of the Nyingma—which all of them were—are eccentric more-or-less as part of the job description. Künzang Dorje Rinpoche was probably the one who was regarded as most peculiar, for his obvious total lack of interest in Tibetan social conventions. He was also less well-known than the others (probably because he refused to do the things famous Lamas are required to do). He was highly revered, though. I never met him, but at least half the Aro sangha did. Many people have told me stories about being out walking with him in Boudha (Kathmandu), and the respect shown to him by Tibetans who met him on the street there.
Regarding question #2. You'd probably do well to skip ahead now to this page, which will answer some related questions. In short: Dudjom Rinpoche encouraged Ngak'chang Rinpoche to teach, and especially to develop the Ngakpa tradition in the West. He gave Rinpoche's official organization its name (Sang-ngak-chö-dzong), but died before his instructions bore much fruit. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was encouraging but too busy being Head to have meaningful input. Lama Yeshé Dorje Rinpoche initially instructed Ngak'chang Rinpoche to create a center in Britain, but after a breakdown in their relationship, denounced Ngak'chang Rinpoche as unqualified to teach. As far as I know, he never said anything about the Aro gTér or the Aro sangha, however. Chhi'mèd Rig'dzin Rinpoche was Ngak'chang Rinpoche's main teacher during the initial formation of the Aro sangha, and visited several times for long periods. He strongly approved of Ngak'chang Rinpoche's teaching and organization, and the two taught together on a number of occasions. It's not clear what he thought of the Aro gTér itself; he seems to have said different things about that to different people. Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche was also very supportive, met with much of the Aro sangha, and formed close relationships with several Aro students. He never came to the West, however.
Wisdom Eccentrics
31 Dec 2010
Oh, and by the way. Ngak'chang Rinpoche's current round of teaching is based on a book he is writing about his relationships with his own Lamas, especially Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche. It is titled Wisdom Eccentrics. If you go to the March 2011 public retreats, it's likely that this will be the subject.
Mumbo Jumbo
1 Jan 2011
Without diagrams, my poor memory can barely handle all those foreign names, but I am trying. I have on my list to make a diagram to keep it straight. But that was a fun history and I shall refer to it. It does show some of the stuff I was trying to understand.
Somewhere you wrote something I agree with -- I am poorly paraphrasing:
I don't care if a teaching is the original stuff of the Buddha [or of any proper lineage], I care that it fits with me and works well.
Mahayoga is the yana
5 Mar 2011
Mahayoga is the yana concerned with ritual performance and particularly the chanting of texts.
This is incomplete to a degree amounting to misstatement. What you are describing is what the Nyingma teachings generally describe as the Outer Tantras:
"With the Outer Yoga (Upa-yoga), ritual purity and other observances found in the former [Kriya and Carya--ed.] Tantras are only aids to the realization of the path. The primary concern of these teachings is the inward contemplation and introspection to directly perceive, in an atmosphere of meditative settledness, the functioning of the mind...."
In the Inner Tantras, however, "...the Mahayoga presents a third truth, and teaches how to become enlightened in this very lifetime. All the emotions are used as vehicles to heighten awareness and each situation presents its potentiality, becoming transformed into the deities of the Mandala...[each Yidam] manifests the body speech and mind of the Nirmanakaya, Samboghakaya, and Dharmakaya. Through the internal practice of Sadhana, rituals, mudras, and mantras, the mind becomes a mirror-like mandala."
~Tarthang Tulku, Crystal Mirror V
You have rituals and text chanting in the Mahayoga [or in it's very approximate Sarma equivalent Anuttarayoga], but they are not the point of Mahayoga. What is crucial is the Developing Stage of the inner visualizations, just as the Anu Yoga is the application of the Fulfillment Stage of the inner visualizations to practical yoga techniques such as tummo.
I don't wish to appear sectarian. My root guru is a Karma Kagyudpa Khenpo and--since we hold some [mostly terma] Nyingma teachings--depending on the context, he teaches either the Sarma Three Yana system or the Nyingma Nine Yana system. He is very explicit in his assertion that the Nine Yana system is, in fact, superior.
If the Aro ter does have many rituals and texts is one matter, if it does not have many of the inner visualizations that the texts and rituals describe and embody, that is another. I think you should undertake to clarify this issue.
Mahayoga: a red herring
7 Mar 2011
You are quite right; thank you for pointing this out. What I wrote was careless and just plain wrong. Re-reading it, I'm not even sure quite was I was trying to say. I've updated the text of the page accordingly.
Your final sentence neatly explains why the deemphasis of ritual performance is helpful. Too often it seems that, in Tibetan everyday practice-on-the-ground, the inner practice of the sadhana is lost, and replaced with mere recitation. The Aro gTér mostly omits the outward practice, in order to concentrate on the inner aspects (visualization, tsa rlung, formless meditation).
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