Shedra

And because he learned so well the texts, he began Shidra college at 14.

Then he was doing his college And then the Chinese became difficult in Tibet and college was closed before he could finish, almost finished to Shedra, but not quite.

So at that time there was no Shedra for him.

So he went on pilgrimage to different places to meditate in Tibet.

And while he did that, there was fighting with the Chinese.

But he just loves the Madhyamika at the moment.

And he's off studying that in the Shedra.

And getting all these, what he says, all these cool teachings about this and about that.

And he sends me tapes of them.

Yeah, one-on-one, yes.

Because you didn't do Shedra.

No.

It was all this, like a tutor, but a master, the most masterful tutor imaginable.

Actually, I tried to go to Shedra like a few times.

Like first is like Rumthik, after Kamapa passed away, they start the first Rumthik Shedra.

And that time, the Toggar Rumbuche, he's like kind of an administrator of Rumthik.

So he says, I was registered as a Rumthik monk.

But actually the formal investigations i experienced very much as dry as more like thought experiences a little bit beside myself beside beside life itself and also myself although i knew at the same time that this resistance was also a little bit like preferential stubborn mind but after a while one particular teaching resonated deeply and showed me a gateway to bring this emptiness view into my experience, which I was searching.

And that happened in talk six from the 2016 Shedra program.

It was on the Bodhichara Vatara chapter nine, the wisdom chapter.

In the second part of the teaching Rinpoche says, my question, my request to you all is to discern when you become ordinary.

But I also realize that this scratching the surface is a step forward compared to falling asleep.

And before I want to elaborate on navigating by means of personal call, I would like to take a moment to place this this request of Rinpoche in the context of his teachings.

In the first part of this Shedrart teaching, Rinpoche is addressing how easily we are despondent of ourselves.

And he is addressing the importance to have a base in bodhicitta practice, not only for others, but also for ourselves.

Okay.

But I'm reading, I'm going, well, then why did this guy have to do two, three-year retreats, nine years in Shedra, studying 12 hours a day, seven days a week for the whole year? And it's the same person now advocating to others, you don't have to do that.

Is there something about that that is kind of food for non-thought, as we like to call it?

Well, here's the beautiful story that I was told at that time and is also written in...

Maybe even hold it for the next visit that the teacher comes.

One of the, the earliest teachings I ever received that really deeply was implanted into my mind was a online Shedra.

Shedra is almost like a college class, so it's more of a classroom type experience, by Katcha Rinpoche, and he was teaching on Jamyang or on Jigme Lingpa's Tre- Treasury of Precious Qualities, Rain of Blessings.

And I remem-- and it's a book.

It's been translated.

So we as a group, and it was myself and John and a few others, we would come together and we would just answer the questions and we would study and we would talk about them and digest them.

And it was the first time that teachings really set in for me more so than just a visiting teacher coming.

And then at the end of that Shedra class, we had exams, believe it or not, which was frightening.

And today, actually, I wanted to speak about what a privilege it is to be here.

Um, after last weekend's Shedra teachings by Kongtrul Rinpoche, there was one moment when he spoke about the, hmm, the privilege of having the freedoms and advantages, or at least that's how I was taking away some of those aspects of the teachings.

And I really thought about what a privilege it is, um, to be here, and actually how long it's been since I even heard the word privilege used in a positive sense.

[laughs] Uh, it's been used in more of a negative sense recently.

My own, uh, life has kind of oriented in that direction where I do feel very privileged to be part of this community, to have this role within the Mangala Shri Bhuti Sangha, and with that comes a certain amount of responsibility that I feel [clears throat] compelled to keep up with and not just slack off, [laughs] not just, uh, abuse my, um, my role here or take it for granted.

And that's not just something that occurs to me as a member of Mangala Shri Bhuti or even a teacher in this Sangha, but also as a human being, because this is one of the many contemplations that come out of the, um, the teachings on receiving a precious human birth and how rare and unusual it is to have a precious human birth.

Of course, there are many teachings through, uh, the various texts, whether that's, um, through Jigme Lingpa's, uh, Kongtrul Rinpoche had been previously teaching in Shedra or through, uh, The Words of My Perfect Teacher by Patrul Rinpoche or the, hmm, contemplation on the, uh, four thoughts that turn the mind towards Dharma from our Ninjro practice.

There is this loose mathematical awareness of how rare it is to be born as a human being, period.

So Khenpo's in this tradition have the teaching experience, academic experience, yogic practice, and then also have the vows of a monk.

Khenpo has been the vice president of Gangti Shedra, so the university affiliated with Gangti Rinpoche, and was the Dorje Lopun for Dramatsin Monastery in eastern Bhutan for 14 years.

And then he got sent into southern Bhutan to create a Shedra for small monks and nuns, and my husband Chip will share more about that.

You can say That means hello or like a Tashi Delek in Zonka.

So this is the style of Bhutan.