Magic Circle Feels like it’s time to pull out the notes from my pilgrimage last year to say farewell to our precious Master. Our collective year of mourning and reflection following Rinpoche's passing has now ended: in the random personal reflections offered below I have no wish to intrude upon that nor to speak [...]
Jane Weston is stepping down from the Gakyil at the next AGM and we need someone to replace her on Blue. The following Job Description outlines what she has been doing for the last three years but of course there is room for flexibility to reflect the skills any new person could bring to [...]
Our retreat in June was a perfect opportunity to join together as a group to dance the Song of the Vajra and practise the Long Mandarava and Short Mandarava and Mandarava Ganapuja rites. These photographs give just a flavour of the experience... Nine Breathings AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA EMAKIRIKIRI MASHTAVALIVALI KUTALIMASUMASU [...]
REFRESHING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SANTI MAHA SANGHA Now that spring has arrived, it feels like a good time to refresh in our minds the importance of theSanti Maha Sangha. The Santi Maha Sangha training is a programme of study and practice created by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu in 1992. The words: ‘Santi Maha [...]
This is a poem I wrote about Namkhai Norbu based around three poems of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche; In the expanse of the sky No matter how long the room’s been dark, an hour or a million years, The moment the lamp of awareness is lit, the darkness disappears. In the expanse of the sky, [...]
How do I write about my experience as a new member of the Santi Maha Sangha when I am still only a newish member of the wider Dzogchen Community? I had thought that perhaps joining the Santi Maha Sangha training might be too advanced for me or that it might demand a level of [...]
These photographs were taken the day after the month long retreat of the Dakini Mandarava ended. Nina Robinson led this recently at Tsegyelgar West in Baja California, Mexico
The new year began with a session of Karma Yoga leading up to Losar in February. It is traditional to clean and clear out before Losar, and this year the week before Losar coincided with half term. We had two gorgeous teenage dakinis present and many of the Kunselling management group, all with good [...]
Many of you may already be familiar with The Mirror, originally the newspaper of the International Dzogchen Community. The printed newspaper started back in 1991 and continued up until the end of 2013 when, due to printing and mailing costs, the newspaper was forced to do its last print run. The Mirror continued to [...]
The contemporary cult of mindfulness is in the vanguard of the spread of Buddhism in the modern world. In the UK, it is even sponsored by the state, in the form of free mindfulness-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) on the National Health Service. There are two university departments – in Oxford and in Bangor, [...]