Dru Gyalwa Yungdrung Part 3

Experiential Transmission of Dru Gyalwa Yungdrung:

The Ancillary Instruction of the Boundless View,

Part 3

The Dru Gyalwai Chag Tri is the collection of the text composed by Dru Gyalwa Yungdrung, the great 13th century master who lived from 1242-1290. Dru Gyalwa Yungdrung is the 57th lineage holder of the Oral Transmission of the Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyü and is also known as Dru Gyalwa.

He composed a practice manual Chag Tri at the Yeru Wensakha monastery. The propagation of the unified Oral Transmission of Zhang Zhung continued at Yeru Wensakha monastery for another hundred years to Rinchen Lodro during which time the monastery was destroyed by a flood in 1386.

Dzögchen, also known as the “great perfection” or “great completion,” is considered the path of self-liberation and the highest form of teaching and practice in the Bon Buddhist tradition. For practitioners with the capacity, it offers the potential for liberation during a single lifetime and within a single body. Until the late 20th century these ancient teachings were kept secret and offered to very few students of any generation. For all these reasons, attending the teachings can be seen as a precious opportunity for students of Tibetan Bön Buddhism.

The Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung (Zhang Zhung Nyam Gyu), is a cycle of dzögchen teachings from the Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud lineage, one of the three main dzoöchen lineages of the Bön Buddhist tradition. The Dru Gyalwai Chag Tri is a preliminary portion of the Zhang Zhung Nyam Gyu.

The Ngöndro.
The ngöndro of the Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung are the foundational practices and the entrance to this cycle of Tibetan Bön dzögchen teachings. Attending a Part 1 Ngöndro retreat is a prerequisite for further study of the Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung.

The ngöndro teachings, a set of nine practices, offer complete instructions for taming, purifying, and perfecting the suffering mind. Although the practices that make up the ngöndro are called preliminary or foundational practices, many practitioners adopt them as their main practice and complete the nine parts several times over the course of a lifetime. Within each of these beautiful
and powerful practices is contained the entire path to liberation. The practices of the ngöndro can accompany the practitioner through the years like a lifelong friend.

Three Sets of Practices
The ngöndro practices are divided into three sets of three practices, or nine practices in all.

The first set of three tames the mind of the practitioner through three basic practices:

Opening the heart with guru yoga
Contemplating impermanence
Admitting misdeeds

The second set purifies the practitioner through three common or ordinary practices:

Developing bodhicitta
Going for refuge and performing prostrations
Offering the mandala

The third set perfects the practitioner through three profound or extraordinary practices:

Purification through mantra
Offering the illusory body as a tsok (offering ritual)
Request for blessings

Zhiné and Introduction to the Nature of Mind.
The knowledge and skills learned here are applied in all parts of the cycle to come. In a deliberate and structured way, the teachings present the foundational practice of zhiné as the skillful means to develop a calm abiding mind; and give instructions for dark retreat, sky gazing, and sun gazing as skillful means to develop stability in mindfulness. These practices ultimately permit experiences of innate awareness, or rigpa. In turn, when experiences of innate awareness are developed and stabilized in a methodical way through meditation practice, they confirm the direction of the practitioner’s journey and allow it to naturally unfold.

The View, Meditation, Conduct, and Result of Dzögchen
The focus of this section is on pith instructions to develop certainty in the nature of mind and to integrate experiences and realizations in everyday life.
Practitioners will explore:

• How naked seeing is the dzögchen view and the self-introduction.
• How clear light is the meditation.
• How bringing every experience to the path is the conduct.
• How confidence in the three kayas is the result.

Geshe Denma will offer transmission for this series of teachings at the end of the series.

Part 3 is a continuation of the teachings from Part 1 and Part 2 which covered some of the topics already.  Teaching will be continued from where it ended in Part 2.  Additional topics may be added and/or topics may be removed at the discretion of Geshe Denma, based on attendee interest and the best way to communicate the information.  Part 4 will be added to continue/complete the teaching.

Schedule – Saturday and Sunday CDT

Retreat teachings and practices will be taught in English.

Live translation will be available in Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian.

Written translations will be available in Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and German.

REGISTRATION:

Complete payment below.  After payment is complete, you will receive an email with links to the Zoom Registration and the Handouts.  All recordings will be made available to registered participants after the retreat is over at the same link as the Handouts.

There is early bird pricing available until noon the Saturday before the retreat.

Financial hardship need not prevent practitioners from attending Zoom teachings.  If you need assistance, please inquire about available scholarships by emailing info@ligminchatexas.org.  This must be done at least 1 week prior to the retreat.

We have switched to using Zeffy.  This allows us to keep 100% of your donations and registrations, as Zeffy does not charge us any payment processing fees.  They do, however, ask you to make a donation to them.  If you would prefer not to donate to Zeffy, in the Donation Box at the bottom, select “Other” from the Drop Down Box that is prefilled with a percentage and dollar amount , and leave the Contribution Box empty.

Geshe Denma Gyaltsen is the resident lama of Ligmincha Texas. He arrived in Houston in January 2016 to serve as Ligmincha Texas’s first resident lama.

Geshe Denma was born in northern Nepal. His father brought him to Menri Monastery, India, regarded as the mother Bon monastery in exile, in 1981 to begin his program of study toward the Geshe degree. He received all the Bon teachings, initiations and transmissions in sutra, tantra and dzogchen from His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche, the 33rd Menri Trizin, and His Eminence Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche.

When he became a senior student, he was asked to teach philosophy to younger students. He successfully completed this degree program in 1996 and was awarded the Geshe certificate, which is considered equivalent to a Ph.D. in Bön Buddhist philosophy and religion.

Geshe Denma was an accomplished teacher and in 1998 was appointed, with the approval of the Tibetan government in exile, first abbot of Zhu Rishing Yungdrung Kundak-Ling Monastery, a Bon Monastery in Sikkim, India by His Holiness. He served two terms in this capacity until 2003. In addition, from the time he graduated until 2008, Geshe Denma also was active in assisting Geshe Nyima Dakpa with the Bon Children’s Home, which houses many children in Dolanji, India, providing them with food, healthcare and free education.