News 
June 25, 2006 - Seattle, WA
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DPR Begins Cycle of Teachings on the Khandro Nyingtik
at 2006 Nalandabodhi Sangha Retreat
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and over 200 students from around the world began a multi-year cycle of teachings on the
Khandro Nyingtik at the 2006 Nalandabodhi Sangha Retreat. This annual program - staffed exclusively by community volunteers - is the primary opportunity for Rinpoche to meet with and transmit teachings to his students in a private, focused setting.
Attracting students from throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Hong Kong, Nepal and Greece, this year's 8-day program took place June 17-25 at Nalanda West, Nalandabodhi's international events center in Seattle, Washington State. The retreat marked the first time these rare and profound Dzogchen teachings are known to have been widely introduced to Western dharma students.
The Khandro Nyingtik, or "Heart Essence of the Dakinis", is a cycle of teachings in the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, originating from the Indian master Padmasambhava, or Guru Rinpoche, who is credited with first establishing Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet in the 8th Century CE. The Khandro Nyingtik contains the heart essence of Dzogchen, the highest view and practice of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, and was entrusted by Padmasambhava to the Dakinis for safekeeping until the appropriate time came for the teachings to be more widely disseminated.
Commenting on this year's program, Cortland Dahl, the primary translator, said: "The Khandro Nyingtik teachings lie at the very heart of the Dzogchen lineage. Despite their importance, however, they have rarely been presented from start to finish in the West. This may very well be the first time. The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoches have been masters of this tradition for seven lifetimes and have used its profound instructions to lead countless beings to awakening, so to connect with this teacher, at this time, is an opportunity too precious for words!"
Alternating freely between the original Tibetan and evocative English, Rinpoche taught from The Excellent Chariot: A Vehicle for the Path to Liberation, a seminal text authored by the third Dzogchen Rinpoche, Ngeton Tenzin Zangpo. This text is an instruction manual on the Khandro Nyingtik practices, including the daily practice of monastics at Dzogchen Monastery in Eastern Tibet. Historically, Dzogchen Rinpoche and the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche have been co-abbots of this reknowned monastery, and Ngeton Tenzin Zangpo's own root guru was the 1st Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Namkha Ösal. The lineage of the Khandro Nyingtik extends directly from Guru Rinpoche to the present 7th Ponlop Rinpoche, through such great masters as the Lady Yeshe Tsogyal, His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and Zenkar Rinpoche.
During the program, the sangha celebrated both Ponlop Rinpoche's and His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa's birthdays with cake and festivities, and we were lucky to learn a moving, new song composed by His Holiness Karmapa, An Aspiration for the World, set to music composed by sangha musicians. As always, there was much singing of other lineage songs, as well as the introduction of a melodious Green Tara practice composed by Ponlop Rinpoche and his master, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. This year also marked the first time the Nalanda West kitchen prepared and served three meals each day to all program attendees.
It is our heartfelt aspiration that in years to come Rinpoche will complete his teachings on the Khandro Nyingtik without obstacles, and that all beings now and in the future who have a genuine interest may share this profound wisdom and use it to fully realize the true nature of their mind.
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