Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche in Zurich, May 2012
Recognising the Clear Light of Awareness:
The Practice of the Six Lamps (Part 2)
Tapihritsa as a Body of Light
Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is coming once again to Switzerland to continue the series of Dzogchen teachings from the Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud, the unbroken oral transmission lineage of the Tibetan Bön tradition. He will be teaching again from the text entitled The Six Lamps. The 2013 course is a follow-up to the three-day course covering the first half of the text given last year in Zurich.
The Six Lamps brings us to a direct experience of the dimension of pure light: the luminous self-awareness of the mind, or rigpa. The practice of the Six Lamps directly introduces us first to our inner light - helping us to overcome the internal darkness of ignorance, doubt and negative emotions. Then, it introduces us to the external manifestation of that light, helping us overcome the external darkness.
In two three-day courses (June 2011, Lamps 1-3 and May 2012, Lamps 4-6) Tenzin Rinpoche will explain and comment upon this most important text so that we can understand the essence of the Dzogchen teachings. He will present practices which help us to recognise the pure luminosity of all our experience and to abide in non-dual awareness.
Tenzin Rinpoche on the Practice of the Six Lamps:
“Among the Dzogchen teachings it is considered as one of the most important cycles. It is the ‘crème de la crème’ of Dzogchen.”
Here you can listen to Audio recording of the Introduction to the Six Lamps course 2011
The Six Lamps, Part 2:
Venue: Volkshaus, Stauffacherstr. 60, CH-8004 Zürich www.volkshaus.ch
Dates: 18 - 20 May, Ascension Weekend (Friday-Sunday) 2012
Friday 10 - 17
Saturday 10 - 17
Sunday 9 - 16
Cost: CHF 300/Euro 250
Language: English with German translation
Further Information:
Susanna Di Gregorio Tel +41 41 420 23 63
Please register online!
Register here...
Participation in this course is dependent on certain pre-conditions.
Dharamsala, India. Photo: Volker Graf
Background Information
The Dzogchen View
Dzogchen teaches that the basis of the individual and of all phenomena is inseparable emptiness and luminosity. All phenomena are a display of light arising from, existing in and dissolving back into the emptiness of space. Everything that manifests appears in the boundless light of pure non-dual awareness. Both the suffering of samsara as well as the joy of nirvana arise from the same pure source, which is boundless, perfect and beyond all duality. If all phenomena, including the subjective sense of self, are recognised as an empty display of light, one is free.
The Six Lamps
According to the Oral Transmission of Zhang Zhung — one of the principal dzogchen (Great Perfection) lineages of the Bön tradition — our suffering in samsara can be traced to a single cause: our failure to comprehend that external appearances are only a manifestation of our own innate awareness. The text of "The Six Lamps" carefully investigates the precise manner by which innate awareness is situated in our body, travels through the channels of the energy body, arrives at our eyes, and emerges as external appearances.
The teaching of the Six Lamps guides us to experience pure vision by recognizing the clear light of self-awareness in all levels of our existence:
* In the vast, infinite space that is the base-of-all
* In the space within our heart center
* In the subtle channels of our sacred body that connect the heart with the eyes
* In the external space surrounding us
* In all external visions
* In the visions we experience after death
Ultimately this practice is a path to self-liberation, enabling one to experience all visions of the bardo (the transitional state after death) as inseparable from one’s own essence, the essence of Samantabhadra, the primordial Buddha.
For further information on the Six Lamps please see Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's book "Healing with Form, Energy and Light", pages 113-120.
The Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud Dzogchen lineage
Gyerpung Nangzher Lodpo and Tapihritsa
The key role of Gyerpung Nangzher Lodpo
The Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud cycle of Dzogchen teachings was first written down in the 8th century by the master Gyerpung Nangzher Lodpo in north-west Tibet. He received them from his master, Tapihritsa, who attained the rainbow body at the end of his life, leaving no physical remains. Tapihritsa reincarnated as a child in order to teach his two closest students, Gyerpung Nangzher Lodpo and Mo Yungdrung. Tapihritsa is pictured in the Dharmakaya form, naked and without ornament. He represents the union of all the Bön lineage masters and in the practice of Guru Yoga is visualised as a manifestation of pure light in a rainbow circle.
The thangka image above illustrates the moment when Nangzher Lodpo achieved supreme realization and spontaneously composed a devotional prayer of invocation to his compassionate master, Tapihritsa, who manifested in the sky above him as a radiant buddha of white light.
The Course Leader
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is a lama in the Bön tradition of Tibet and a master of Dzogchen, which he has practised since the age of thirteen. He was recognised as the reincarnation of the famous meditation master, scholar and author, Kyung Tul Rinpoche. Born in 1961 in India after his parents fled the Chinese invasion of Tibet, he studied with many Bön and Buddhist masters and received the title of Geshe, the highest academic degree in the Tibetan tradition.
In 1991 Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche went on a Rockefeller Scholarship to Rice University, Houston, USA and a year later founded the Ligmincha Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia. This organisation is dedicated to the study and practice of the teachings of the Bön tradition, and Dzogchen in particular. In 2006, with the same aim in mind, Rinpoche laid the foundation for the Lishu Institute near Dehradun, India. There he wishes to create a place where practitioners can undertake longer retreats and study the teachings of the Bön Buddhist tradition in greater depth.
Tenzin Rinpoche teaches regularly in the USA, Mexico, South America, Europe and Russia and is known for his clarity and humour as well as for his ability to make Eastern teachings accessible to a Western public. He is the author of: Wonders of the Natural Mind - The Essence of Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet; The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep; Healing with Form, Energy and Light - The Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra and Dzogchen; Tibetan Sound Healing (book and CD); Awakening the Sacred Body (book and DVD); Tibetan Yogas of Body, Speech and Mind and together with Professor Anne Carolyn Klein, Unbounded Wholeness: Dzogchen, Bon, and the Logic of the Nonconceptual. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia with his wife Tsering Wangmo and young son, Senghe.
"Bön, as the indigenous source of Tibetan culture, played a significant role in shaping Tibet's unique identity."
His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the XIV. Dalai Lama
Dharamsala, India. Photo: Volker Graf
Weekend Course Zurich 2012
Venue: Volkshaus, Stauffacherstr. 60, CH-8004 Zürich www.volkshaus.ch
Dates: 18 - 20 May, Ascension Weekend (Friday-Sunday) 2012
Friday 10 - 17
Saturday 10 - 17
Sunday 9 - 16
Cost: CHF 300/Euro 250
Language: English with German translation
Further Information:
Susanna Di Gregorio Tel +41 41 420 23 63
list of (inexpensive) hotels in or near Zurich
Please register online! Your registration is valid upon payment of the full course costs to Post Account 80-161780-1.
If you did not attend last year’s course please remember to add the comment 'new' on the Online Registration Form, thank you.
Registration for the Weekend Course in Zurich
Payment Details
Payee / Place: Jakob Peter und Ann-Marie / CH-8903 Birmensdorf ZH
Ann-Marie + Peter Jakob, Haslenstr. 22, CH-8903 Birmensdorf
Post Account Number: 80-161780-1
IBAN Number electronic: CH5109000000801617801
IBAN Number paperform: IBAN CH51 0900 0000 8016 1780 1
SWIFT Code / BIC PostFinance: POFICHBEXXX
Clearing Number PostFinance: 09000
Name of the financial institution: SWISS POST - PostFinance, Nordring 8, CH-3030 Bern, Schweiz/Switzerland