Precious Opportunity: A Heartfelt Recommendation to Attend the Annual Fall Seminar
In 2016 after
two months travelling in Nepal I had the constant and intense feeling that I
really wanted to find an authentic spiritual tradition. Instead of meandering
through different paths, I felt it was time to dive deeply into one.
While waiting
for my Indian visa I decided to visit Boudhanath. I vaguely knew that there was
some White Monastery where some teacher taught openly for Westerners. I
searched for this place in the morning and suddenly found myself in the first
day of the Fall Seminar!
The experience I
had changed my life in such a deep way that I felt I had arrived home, and so,
in 2017 I came back to join the B.A in Buddhist Studies program. To be honest I
don't recall exactly what the main theme of that seminar was; everything was so
fresh and interesting, but I do remember the profound impact it had on me.
Chokyi Nyima
Rinpoche and Phakchok Rinpoche led the seminar with such mastery; it’s as if
we are all being transported through a Dharma symphony. The distinct character
and teaching approach of these extremely kind masters has a beautiful and
complementary synchronicity that fits and benefits students of all
personalities and inclinations.
The culmination
of the shedra studies at RYI is the Fall Seminar, where the essence of the
topics we study is presented as straightforward, heart to heart advice aimed
directly at the practical application of transforming our minds. As one dear
professor noted: ``We must learn to take the essence of the topics we study.´´
That being said, the seminar is an incredible opportunity to extract the
precious nectar of Dharma which provides an ever helpful remedy for our
confusion and suffering.
At the end of
the Seminar, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche offers a short retreat that usually involves
pith instructions on recognizing the nature of mind. Although I do not claim to
have recognized it, based on the little I know, I would say that there is
nothing more precious than having a realized master point out the primordial
awareness of the nature of mind, the one point that frees all - it’s the
kindest gift anybody could ever offer you.
If getting closer
to uncoiling all confusion, being released from suffering and expanding all
boundless qualities of enlightenment doesn't sound appealing to you, then maybe
the amaaazing food that is served during lunch will. Therefore I encourage all
students, both new and old, to take this precious opportunity to heart.
~Victor from Brazil
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