Five years ago Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche received the empowerment into the Rangjung Padmai Nyingthig: The Self-Arising Heartdrop of Padma, from His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, a terma cycle which His Holiness himself received directly from Guru Rinpoche. Every year since then, Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche has led an intensive week-long ceremony based on this practice with the aspiration that all beings will thereby receive the full blessings of Padmasambhava.
In attendance this anniversary year of Padmasambhava's birth were nine visiting lamas as well as practitioners from throughout the United States, Nepal, Europe, Brazil and Australia. This summer's ceremony was the first time that drubchen was held at Rigdzin Ling. Preparations began months before the event and Rinpoche and the sangha worked tirelessly to ensure that everything would come together as needed. At one point, when the amount of work still needing to be done seemed overwhelming, Rinpoche gave a short teaching in which he assured everyone that even if they could not see the fruits of the virtue being created in this lifetime, a foundation for the dharma was being laid by their efforts. He stressed that even more important than the amount of work that one accomplishes is the motivation with which one approaches each task. If one's intention is to benefit beings and if the merit one accumulates by working is dedicated to that end, then one's work will create exhaustless virtue. Without the generosity of everyone who contributed to its fruition in many different ways, the drubchen would never have been possible.
A drubchen is an extremely elaborate ceremony. The sadhana, the visualization, the chanting, the instruments, the offering of substances and the lama dances have all been handed down through a lineage of realization holders, and in order for the practice to be of greatest benefit it is important that each detail of the ritual be carried out properly.
Each morning, the practitioners awakened to the sound of jyalings(Tibetan oboes) and longhorns and then assembled for practice in the cool pre-dawn as light was breaking over the surrounding foothills. The sadhana practice continued throughout the day, concluding with Lama dances until dusk. During meal breaks and throughout the night, groups of practitioners took turns reciting mantra to ensure that the practice would continue unbroken throughout the drubchen. In the afternoons, either Chagdud Rinpoche or one of the guest lamas offered teachings to the assembly. The lamas repeatedly stressed that the drubchen was a very precious opportunity for practice, and that everyone's presence there was the result of their having practiced and aspired to benefit beings over many lifetimes. From the lamas' teachings we saw that the preparations of the previous few months, although they seemed difficult, had only hinted at the diligence exhibited by many great lamas and practitioners of the past. The lamas also offered advice on how to work with visualization, not as a complicated mental fabrication, but rather as a natural arising of that which has always been there.
Through the Drubchen practice, in which we accumulate merit and wisdom, it is possible to begin removing the mind's obscurations and revealing its true nature. In contrast to the complex structure and detail of the ceremony was the vast openness which the practice itself brought forth naturally within the minds of the participants as the week unfolded. It is said that one week of drubchen, done diligently and with pure motivation, is equivalent to doing one year of solitary retreat. With so direct an approach to taming the mind it was to be expected that some difficulties would arise. At times the afternoon heat was oppressive, the schedule was exhausting, and the meal lines were long, but there was nothing to do but let go of the irritation and continue to practice.
Surrounded by multi colored t'hangkas depicting the Eight Emanations of Padmasambhava, seated at the feet of so many great lamas amid the colorfully robed sangha, hearing the chanting and instruments as though they were coming directly from Copper Colored Mountain, smelling the fragrant incense, listening to the profound teachings, partaking of the abundant tsog,watching the swaying brocades and meditative power of the lama dancing as it transformed negativity into benefit, the participants were showered with the blessings of the practice. Everyone in attendance had made some sacrifice in their lives to be there. And throughout the week, many people came to realize that wherever they were within the boundaries of the retreat, on their cushion, in the kitchen, painting masks, sewing costumes, practicing dances, or making tormas, that they were deep within the heart of the practice. Certainly, no one left the drubchen unchanged.
One particularly auspicious event during the week was the enthronement ceremony of Padma Gyurmed Palden, who is the reincarnation of Gyari Aka Nyima Rinpoche, an accomplished Great Perfection practitioner who lived much of his life in retreat near Chagdud Gonpa in eastern Tibet. Aka Nyima Rinpoche was the attendant and student of Tulku Arig, one of Chagdud Rinpoche's main teachers. During the ceremony, the five-year-old tulku took his throne and received prayers and offerings from the assembly of lamas and sangha, which included his parents, Angela and Kevin Arnold.
The boundaries of the ceremony were taken down at sunrise on the tenth day of the month, the anniversary of Guru Rinpoche's birth. In celebration of the auspicious time the Chagdud Gonpa lama dancers performed a series of traditional Tibetan ritual dances offering praises, skillful activity and supplication to the Eight Aspects of Padmasambhava and their retinue. Dressed in ornate brocade robes, wearing intricately painted masks of both peaceful and wrathful deities and bodhisattvas, and carrying symbolic implements, the dancers performed the steps of the dance as carefully trained by Lama Sonam Tsering, according to the lineage transmission .
The land and intention of Rigdzin Ling are permeated with the blessings of this years drubchen. Through the kindness of Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche and his teacher Khyentse Rinpoche, the dharma continues to become established here.
When His Holiness Khyentse Rinpoche passed into parinirvana over a year ago, Chagdud Rinpoche and a few of his students joined many lamas and practitioners who came to the palace in Paro, Bhutan where his body was enshrined to make offerings and prayers. As they stepped into the hushed shrineroom, the blessing of his presence completely pervaded the room, just as it had in Boulder in 1987 when they had first received the empowerment for the drubchen practice. His physical presence or absence made no difference for his mind was not subject to ordinary limitations of time or place. On the palace grounds below, a group of practitioners chanted the life story of Padmasambhava to the accompaniment of bells and small hand drums. As rays of afternoon sunlight streamed into the shrine room, incense wafted out of the windows and dissolved into the cloudless sky.
Halfway across the world, some months later, the ritual dances of this year's drubchen came to a close with the following song of aspiration:
On this special occasion of the tenth day of the moon
In a state of supreme joy,
You have arrived from the emanated pure realm of Orgyan
In a state of supreme bliss.
I offer my prayer that I meet with you
again and again.
Five years ago Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche received the empowerment into the Rangjung Padmai Nyingthig: The Self-Arising Heartdrop of Padma, from His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, a terma cycle which His Holiness himself received directly from Guru Rinpoche. Every year since then, Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche has led an intensive week-long ceremony based on this practice with the aspiration that all beings will thereby receive the full blessings of Padmasambhava.
In attendance this anniversary year of Padmasambhava's birth were nine visiting lamas as well as practitioners from throughout the United States, Nepal, Europe, Brazil and Australia. This summer's ceremony was the first time that drubchen was held at Rigdzin Ling. Preparations began months before the event and Rinpoche and the sangha worked tirelessly to ensure that everything would come together as needed. At one point, when the amount of work still needing to be done seemed overwhelming, Rinpoche gave a short teaching in which he assured everyone that even if they could not see the fruits of the virtue being created in this lifetime, a foundation for the dharma was being laid by their efforts. He stressed that even more important than the amount of work that one accomplishes is the motivation with which one approaches each task. If one's intention is to benefit beings and if the merit one accumulates by working is dedicated to that end, then one's work will create exhaustless virtue. Without the generosity of everyone who contributed to its fruition in many different ways, the drubchen would never have been possible.
A drubchen is an extremely elaborate ceremony. The sadhana, the visualization, the chanting, the instruments, the offering of substances and the lama dances have all been handed down through a lineage of realization holders, and in order for the practice to be of greatest benefit it is important that each detail of the ritual be carried out properly.
Each morning, the practitioners awakened to the sound of jyalings(Tibetan oboes) and longhorns and then assembled for practice in the cool pre-dawn as light was breaking over the surrounding foothills. The sadhana practice continued throughout the day, concluding with Lama dances until dusk. During meal breaks and throughout the night, groups of practitioners took turns reciting mantra to ensure that the practice would continue unbroken throughout the drubchen. In the afternoons, either Chagdud Rinpoche or one of the guest lamas offered teachings to the assembly. The lamas repeatedly stressed that the drubchen was a very precious opportunity for practice, and that everyone's presence there was the result of their having practiced and aspired to benefit beings over many lifetimes. From the lamas' teachings we saw that the preparations of the previous few months, although they seemed difficult, had only hinted at the diligence exhibited by many great lamas and practitioners of the past. The lamas also offered advice on how to work with visualization, not as a complicated mental fabrication, but rather as a natural arising of that which has always been there.
Through the Drubchen practice, in which we accumulate merit and wisdom, it is possible to begin removing the mind's obscurations and revealing its true nature. In contrast to the complex structure and detail of the ceremony was the vast openness which the practice itself brought forth naturally within the minds of the participants as the week unfolded. It is said that one week of drubchen, done diligently and with pure motivation, is equivalent to doing one year of solitary retreat. With so direct an approach to taming the mind it was to be expected that some difficulties would arise. At times the afternoon heat was oppressive, the schedule was exhausting, and the meal lines were long, but there was nothing to do but let go of the irritation and continue to practice.
Surrounded by multi colored t'hangkas depicting the Eight Emanations of Padmasambhava, seated at the feet of so many great lamas amid the colorfully robed sangha, hearing the chanting and instruments as though they were coming directly from Copper Colored Mountain, smelling the fragrant incense, listening to the profound teachings, partaking of the abundant tsog,watching the swaying brocades and meditative power of the lama dancing as it transformed negativity into benefit, the participants were showered with the blessings of the practice. Everyone in attendance had made some sacrifice in their lives to be there. And throughout the week, many people came to realize that wherever they were within the boundaries of the retreat, on their cushion, in the kitchen, painting masks, sewing costumes, practicing dances, or making tormas, that they were deep within the heart of the practice. Certainly, no one left the drubchen unchanged.
One particularly auspicious event during the week was the enthronement ceremony of Padma Gyurmed Palden, who is the reincarnation of Gyari Aka Nyima Rinpoche, an accomplished Great Perfection practitioner who lived much of his life in retreat near Chagdud Gonpa in eastern Tibet. Aka Nyima Rinpoche was the attendant and student of Tulku Arig, one of Chagdud Rinpoche's main teachers. During the ceremony, the five-year-old tulku took his throne and received prayers and offerings from the assembly of lamas and sangha, which included his parents, Angela and Kevin Arnold.
The boundaries of the ceremony were taken down at sunrise on the tenth day of the month, the anniversary of Guru Rinpoche's birth. In celebration of the auspicious time the Chagdud Gonpa lama dancers performed a series of traditional Tibetan ritual dances offering praises, skillful activity and supplication to the Eight Aspects of Padmasambhava and their retinue. Dressed in ornate brocade robes, wearing intricately painted masks of both peaceful and wrathful deities and bodhisattvas, and carrying symbolic implements, the dancers performed the steps of the dance as carefully trained by Lama Sonam Tsering, according to the lineage transmission .
The land and intention of Rigdzin Ling are permeated with the blessings of this years drubchen. Through the kindness of Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche and his teacher Khyentse Rinpoche, the dharma continues to become established here.
When His Holiness Khyentse Rinpoche passed into parinirvana over a year ago, Chagdud Rinpoche and a few of his students joined many lamas and practitioners who came to the palace in Paro, Bhutan where his body was enshrined to make offerings and prayers. As they stepped into the hushed shrineroom, the blessing of his presence completely pervaded the room, just as it had in Boulder in 1987 when they had first received the empowerment for the drubchen practice. His physical presence or absence made no difference for his mind was not subject to ordinary limitations of time or place. On the palace grounds below, a group of practitioners chanted the life story of Padmasambhava to the accompaniment of bells and small hand drums. As rays of afternoon sunlight streamed into the shrine room, incense wafted out of the windows and dissolved into the cloudless sky.
Halfway across the world, some months later, the ritual dances of this year's drubchen came to a close with the following song of aspiration:
On this special occasion of the tenth day of the moon
In a state of supreme joy,
You have arrived from the emanated pure realm of Orgyan
In a state of supreme bliss.
I offer my prayer that I meet with you
again and again.
Five years ago Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche received the empowerment into the Rangjung Padmai Nyingthig: The Self-Arising Heartdrop of Padma, from His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, a terma cycle which His Holiness himself received directly from Guru Rinpoche. Every year since then, Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche has led an intensive week-long ceremony based on this practice with the aspiration that all beings will thereby receive the full blessings of Padmasambhava.
In attendance this anniversary year of Padmasambhava's birth were nine visiting lamas as well as practitioners from throughout the United States, Nepal, Europe, Brazil and Australia. This summer's ceremony was the first time that drubchen was held at Rigdzin Ling. Preparations began months before the event and Rinpoche and the sangha worked tirelessly to ensure that everything would come together as needed. At one point, when the amount of work still needing to be done seemed overwhelming, Rinpoche gave a short teaching in which he assured everyone that even if they could not see the fruits of the virtue being created in this lifetime, a foundation for the dharma was being laid by their efforts. He stressed that even more important than the amount of work that one accomplishes is the motivation with which one approaches each task. If one's intention is to benefit beings and if the merit one accumulates by working is dedicated to that end, then one's work will create exhaustless virtue. Without the generosity of everyone who contributed to its fruition in many different ways, the drubchen would never have been possible.
A drubchen is an extremely elaborate ceremony. The sadhana, the visualization, the chanting, the instruments, the offering of substances and the lama dances have all been handed down through a lineage of realization holders, and in order for the practice to be of greatest benefit it is important that each detail of the ritual be carried out properly.
Each morning, the practitioners awakened to the sound of jyalings(Tibetan oboes) and longhorns and then assembled for practice in the cool pre-dawn as light was breaking over the surrounding foothills. The sadhana practice continued throughout the day, concluding with Lama dances until dusk. During meal breaks and throughout the night, groups of practitioners took turns reciting mantra to ensure that the practice would continue unbroken throughout the drubchen. In the afternoons, either Chagdud Rinpoche or one of the guest lamas offered teachings to the assembly. The lamas repeatedly stressed that the drubchen was a very precious opportunity for practice, and that everyone's presence there was the result of their having practiced and aspired to benefit beings over many lifetimes. From the lamas' teachings we saw that the preparations of the previous few months, although they seemed difficult, had only hinted at the diligence exhibited by many great lamas and practitioners of the past. The lamas also offered advice on how to work with visualization, not as a complicated mental fabrication, but rather as a natural arising of that which has always been there.
Through the Drubchen practice, in which we accumulate merit and wisdom, it is possible to begin removing the mind's obscurations and revealing its true nature. In contrast to the complex structure and detail of the ceremony was the vast openness which the practice itself brought forth naturally within the minds of the participants as the week unfolded. It is said that one week of drubchen, done diligently and with pure motivation, is equivalent to doing one year of solitary retreat. With so direct an approach to taming the mind it was to be expected that some difficulties would arise. At times the afternoon heat was oppressive, the schedule was exhausting, and the meal lines were long, but there was nothing to do but let go of the irritation and continue to practice.
Surrounded by multi colored t'hangkas depicting the Eight Emanations of Padmasambhava, seated at the feet of so many great lamas amid the colorfully robed sangha, hearing the chanting and instruments as though they were coming directly from Copper Colored Mountain, smelling the fragrant incense, listening to the profound teachings, partaking of the abundant tsog,watching the swaying brocades and meditative power of the lama dancing as it transformed negativity into benefit, the participants were showered with the blessings of the practice. Everyone in attendance had made some sacrifice in their lives to be there. And throughout the week, many people came to realize that wherever they were within the boundaries of the retreat, on their cushion, in the kitchen, painting masks, sewing costumes, practicing dances, or making tormas, that they were deep within the heart of the practice. Certainly, no one left the drubchen unchanged.
One particularly auspicious event during the week was the enthronement ceremony of Padma Gyurmed Palden, who is the reincarnation of Gyari Aka Nyima Rinpoche, an accomplished Great Perfection practitioner who lived much of his life in retreat near Chagdud Gonpa in eastern Tibet. Aka Nyima Rinpoche was the attendant and student of Tulku Arig, one of Chagdud Rinpoche's main teachers. During the ceremony, the five-year-old tulku took his throne and received prayers and offerings from the assembly of lamas and sangha, which included his parents, Angela and Kevin Arnold.
The boundaries of the ceremony were taken down at sunrise on the tenth day of the month, the anniversary of Guru Rinpoche's birth. In celebration of the auspicious time the Chagdud Gonpa lama dancers performed a series of traditional Tibetan ritual dances offering praises, skillful activity and supplication to the Eight Aspects of Padmasambhava and their retinue. Dressed in ornate brocade robes, wearing intricately painted masks of both peaceful and wrathful deities and bodhisattvas, and carrying symbolic implements, the dancers performed the steps of the dance as carefully trained by Lama Sonam Tsering, according to the lineage transmission .
The land and intention of Rigdzin Ling are permeated with the blessings of this years drubchen. Through the kindness of Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche and his teacher Khyentse Rinpoche, the dharma continues to become established here.
When His Holiness Khyentse Rinpoche passed into parinirvana over a year ago, Chagdud Rinpoche and a few of his students joined many lamas and practitioners who came to the palace in Paro, Bhutan where his body was enshrined to make offerings and prayers. As they stepped into the hushed shrineroom, the blessing of his presence completely pervaded the room, just as it had in Boulder in 1987 when they had first received the empowerment for the drubchen practice. His physical presence or absence made no difference for his mind was not subject to ordinary limitations of time or place. On the palace grounds below, a group of practitioners chanted the life story of Padmasambhava to the accompaniment of bells and small hand drums. As rays of afternoon sunlight streamed into the shrine room, incense wafted out of the windows and dissolved into the cloudless sky.
Halfway across the world, some months later, the ritual dances of this year's drubchen came to a close with the following song of aspiration:
On this special occasion of the tenth day of the moon
In a state of supreme joy,
You have arrived from the emanated pure realm of Orgyan
In a state of supreme bliss.
I offer my prayer that I meet with you
again and again.
Five years ago Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche received the empowerment into the Rangjung Padmai Nyingthig: The Self-Arising Heartdrop of Padma, from His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, a terma cycle which His Holiness himself received directly from Guru Rinpoche. Every year since then, Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche has led an intensive week-long ceremony based on this practice with the aspiration that all beings will thereby receive the full blessings of Padmasambhava.
In attendance this anniversary year of Padmasambhava's birth were nine visiting lamas as well as practitioners from throughout the United States, Nepal, Europe, Brazil and Australia. This summer's ceremony was the first time that drubchen was held at Rigdzin Ling. Preparations began months before the event and Rinpoche and the sangha worked tirelessly to ensure that everything would come together as needed. At one point, when the amount of work still needing to be done seemed overwhelming, Rinpoche gave a short teaching in which he assured everyone that even if they could not see the fruits of the virtue being created in this lifetime, a foundation for the dharma was being laid by their efforts. He stressed that even more important than the amount of work that one accomplishes is the motivation with which one approaches each task. If one's intention is to benefit beings and if the merit one accumulates by working is dedicated to that end, then one's work will create exhaustless virtue. Without the generosity of everyone who contributed to its fruition in many different ways, the drubchen would never have been possible.
A drubchen is an extremely elaborate ceremony. The sadhana, the visualization, the chanting, the instruments, the offering of substances and the lama dances have all been handed down through a lineage of realization holders, and in order for the practice to be of greatest benefit it is important that each detail of the ritual be carried out properly.
Each morning, the practitioners awakened to the sound of jyalings(Tibetan oboes) and longhorns and then assembled for practice in the cool pre-dawn as light was breaking over the surrounding foothills. The sadhana practice continued throughout the day, concluding with Lama dances until dusk. During meal breaks and throughout the night, groups of practitioners took turns reciting mantra to ensure that the practice would continue unbroken throughout the drubchen. In the afternoons, either Chagdud Rinpoche or one of the guest lamas offered teachings to the assembly. The lamas repeatedly stressed that the drubchen was a very precious opportunity for practice, and that everyone's presence there was the result of their having practiced and aspired to benefit beings over many lifetimes. From the lamas' teachings we saw that the preparations of the previous few months, although they seemed difficult, had only hinted at the diligence exhibited by many great lamas and practitioners of the past. The lamas also offered advice on how to work with visualization, not as a complicated mental fabrication, but rather as a natural arising of that which has always been there.
Through the Drubchen practice, in which we accumulate merit and wisdom, it is possible to begin removing the mind's obscurations and revealing its true nature. In contrast to the complex structure and detail of the ceremony was the vast openness which the practice itself brought forth naturally within the minds of the participants as the week unfolded. It is said that one week of drubchen, done diligently and with pure motivation, is equivalent to doing one year of solitary retreat. With so direct an approach to taming the mind it was to be expected that some difficulties would arise. At times the afternoon heat was oppressive, the schedule was exhausting, and the meal lines were long, but there was nothing to do but let go of the irritation and continue to practice.
Surrounded by multi colored t'hangkas depicting the Eight Emanations of Padmasambhava, seated at the feet of so many great lamas amid the colorfully robed sangha, hearing the chanting and instruments as though they were coming directly from Copper Colored Mountain, smelling the fragrant incense, listening to the profound teachings, partaking of the abundant tsog,watching the swaying brocades and meditative power of the lama dancing as it transformed negativity into benefit, the participants were showered with the blessings of the practice. Everyone in attendance had made some sacrifice in their lives to be there. And throughout the week, many people came to realize that wherever they were within the boundaries of the retreat, on their cushion, in the kitchen, painting masks, sewing costumes, practicing dances, or making tormas, that they were deep within the heart of the practice. Certainly, no one left the drubchen unchanged.
One particularly auspicious event during the week was the enthronement ceremony of Padma Gyurmed Palden, who is the reincarnation of Gyari Aka Nyima Rinpoche, an accomplished Great Perfection practitioner who lived much of his life in retreat near Chagdud Gonpa in eastern Tibet. Aka Nyima Rinpoche was the attendant and student of Tulku Arig, one of Chagdud Rinpoche's main teachers. During the ceremony, the five-year-old tulku took his throne and received prayers and offerings from the assembly of lamas and sangha, which included his parents, Angela and Kevin Arnold.
The boundaries of the ceremony were taken down at sunrise on the tenth day of the month, the anniversary of Guru Rinpoche's birth. In celebration of the auspicious time the Chagdud Gonpa lama dancers performed a series of traditional Tibetan ritual dances offering praises, skillful activity and supplication to the Eight Aspects of Padmasambhava and their retinue. Dressed in ornate brocade robes, wearing intricately painted masks of both peaceful and wrathful deities and bodhisattvas, and carrying symbolic implements, the dancers performed the steps of the dance as carefully trained by Lama Sonam Tsering, according to the lineage transmission .
The land and intention of Rigdzin Ling are permeated with the blessings of this years drubchen. Through the kindness of Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche and his teacher Khyentse Rinpoche, the dharma continues to become established here.
When His Holiness Khyentse Rinpoche passed into parinirvana over a year ago, Chagdud Rinpoche and a few of his students joined many lamas and practitioners who came to the palace in Paro, Bhutan where his body was enshrined to make offerings and prayers. As they stepped into the hushed shrineroom, the blessing of his presence completely pervaded the room, just as it had in Boulder in 1987 when they had first received the empowerment for the drubchen practice. His physical presence or absence made no difference for his mind was not subject to ordinary limitations of time or place. On the palace grounds below, a group of practitioners chanted the life story of Padmasambhava to the accompaniment of bells and small hand drums. As rays of afternoon sunlight streamed into the shrine room, incense wafted out of the windows and dissolved into the cloudless sky.
Halfway across the world, some months later, the ritual dances of this year's drubchen came to a close with the following song of aspiration:
On this special occasion of the tenth day of the moon
In a state of supreme joy,
You have arrived from the emanated pure realm of Orgyan
In a state of supreme bliss.
I offer my prayer that I meet with you
again and again.
Five years ago Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche received the empowerment into the Rangjung Padmai Nyingthig: The Self-Arising Heartdrop of Padma, from His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, a terma cycle which His Holiness himself received directly from Guru Rinpoche. Every year since then, Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche has led an intensive week-long ceremony based on this practice with the aspiration that all beings will thereby receive the full blessings of Padmasambhava.
In attendance this anniversary year of Padmasambhava's birth were nine visiting lamas as well as practitioners from throughout the United States, Nepal, Europe, Brazil and Australia. This summer's ceremony was the first time that drubchen was held at Rigdzin Ling. Preparations began months before the event and Rinpoche and the sangha worked tirelessly to ensure that everything would come together as needed. At one point, when the amount of work still needing to be done seemed overwhelming, Rinpoche gave a short teaching in which he assured everyone that even if they could not see the fruits of the virtue being created in this lifetime, a foundation for the dharma was being laid by their efforts. He stressed that even more important than the amount of work that one accomplishes is the motivation with which one approaches each task. If one's intention is to benefit beings and if the merit one accumulates by working is dedicated to that end, then one's work will create exhaustless virtue. Without the generosity of everyone who contributed to its fruition in many different ways, the drubchen would never have been possible.
A drubchen is an extremely elaborate ceremony. The sadhana, the visualization, the chanting, the instruments, the offering of substances and the lama dances have all been handed down through a lineage of realization holders, and in order for the practice to be of greatest benefit it is important that each detail of the ritual be carried out properly.
Each morning, the practitioners awakened to the sound of jyalings(Tibetan oboes) and longhorns and then assembled for practice in the cool pre-dawn as light was breaking over the surrounding foothills. The sadhana practice continued throughout the day, concluding with Lama dances until dusk. During meal breaks and throughout the night, groups of practitioners took turns reciting mantra to ensure that the practice would continue unbroken throughout the drubchen. In the afternoons, either Chagdud Rinpoche or one of the guest lamas offered teachings to the assembly. The lamas repeatedly stressed that the drubchen was a very precious opportunity for practice, and that everyone's presence there was the result of their having practiced and aspired to benefit beings over many lifetimes. From the lamas' teachings we saw that the preparations of the previous few months, although they seemed difficult, had only hinted at the diligence exhibited by many great lamas and practitioners of the past. The lamas also offered advice on how to work with visualization, not as a complicated mental fabrication, but rather as a natural arising of that which has always been there.
Through the Drubchen practice, in which we accumulate merit and wisdom, it is possible to begin removing the mind's obscurations and revealing its true nature. In contrast to the complex structure and detail of the ceremony was the vast openness which the practice itself brought forth naturally within the minds of the participants as the week unfolded. It is said that one week of drubchen, done diligently and with pure motivation, is equivalent to doing one year of solitary retreat. With so direct an approach to taming the mind it was to be expected that some difficulties would arise. At times the afternoon heat was oppressive, the schedule was exhausting, and the meal lines were long, but there was nothing to do but let go of the irritation and continue to practice.
Surrounded by multi colored t'hangkas depicting the Eight Emanations of Padmasambhava, seated at the feet of so many great lamas amid the colorfully robed sangha, hearing the chanting and instruments as though they were coming directly from Copper Colored Mountain, smelling the fragrant incense, listening to the profound teachings, partaking of the abundant tsog,watching the swaying brocades and meditative power of the lama dancing as it transformed negativity into benefit, the participants were showered with the blessings of the practice. Everyone in attendance had made some sacrifice in their lives to be there. And throughout the week, many people came to realize that wherever they were within the boundaries of the retreat, on their cushion, in the kitchen, painting masks, sewing costumes, practicing dances, or making tormas, that they were deep within the heart of the practice. Certainly, no one left the drubchen unchanged.
One particularly auspicious event during the week was the enthronement ceremony of Padma Gyurmed Palden, who is the reincarnation of Gyari Aka Nyima Rinpoche, an accomplished Great Perfection practitioner who lived much of his life in retreat near Chagdud Gonpa in eastern Tibet. Aka Nyima Rinpoche was the attendant and student of Tulku Arig, one of Chagdud Rinpoche's main teachers. During the ceremony, the five-year-old tulku took his throne and received prayers and offerings from the assembly of lamas and sangha, which included his parents, Angela and Kevin Arnold.
The boundaries of the ceremony were taken down at sunrise on the tenth day of the month, the anniversary of Guru Rinpoche's birth. In celebration of the auspicious time the Chagdud Gonpa lama dancers performed a series of traditional Tibetan ritual dances offering praises, skillful activity and supplication to the Eight Aspects of Padmasambhava and their retinue. Dressed in ornate brocade robes, wearing intricately painted masks of both peaceful and wrathful deities and bodhisattvas, and carrying symbolic implements, the dancers performed the steps of the dance as carefully trained by Lama Sonam Tsering, according to the lineage transmission .
The land and intention of Rigdzin Ling are permeated with the blessings of this years drubchen. Through the kindness of Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche and his teacher Khyentse Rinpoche, the dharma continues to become established here.
When His Holiness Khyentse Rinpoche passed into parinirvana over a year ago, Chagdud Rinpoche and a few of his students joined many lamas and practitioners who came to the palace in Paro, Bhutan where his body was enshrined to make offerings and prayers. As they stepped into the hushed shrineroom, the blessing of his presence completely pervaded the room, just as it had in Boulder in 1987 when they had first received the empowerment for the drubchen practice. His physical presence or absence made no difference for his mind was not subject to ordinary limitations of time or place. On the palace grounds below, a group of practitioners chanted the life story of Padmasambhava to the accompaniment of bells and small hand drums. As rays of afternoon sunlight streamed into the shrine room, incense wafted out of the windows and dissolved into the cloudless sky.
Halfway across the world, some months later, the ritual dances of this year's drubchen came to a close with the following song of aspiration:
On this special occasion of the tenth day of the moon
In a state of supreme joy,
You have arrived from the emanated pure realm of Orgyan
In a state of supreme bliss.
I offer my prayer that I meet with you
again and again.
