20260307173933-Zachary-Burgess-Submission: Difference between revisions

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 |ngondro5begin=2025-04-01
 |ngondro5end=2025-06-30
-|ngondronotes=Although I'm not sure I did a very good job with these practices, I can honestly say that doing ngondro has changed my life. As I gradually went through the accumulations, I slowly gained a more deeply felt confidence in the truth and validity of the teachings in a way I had not previously known. Somehow, it seems like the preliminaries make it possible to have a glimpse of how dharma is not really something outside of you and truly does lead away from confusion. Even if maybe I've misunderstood all the teachings I've heard, this still gives me sense of joy and hope for all of us wandering in samsara and a kind of wonder and gratitude to my teachers who have given me this opportunity. On the other hand, I went through a lot of inner and outer challenges during this time and often felt super muddled. Seeing all of your habitual tendencies (and in my case) gross paranoia and reluctance to trust come to the surface is often very uncomfortable and was a frequent kind of thing I seemed to experience during this time. I sometimes also think it would have helped to have studied a little more beforehand. At any rate, I look forward to coming at these practices fresh in the 3 year retreat. Completed 400,000 Vajrasattva accumulations, as per the advice of one of my teachers.
+|ngondronotes=Although I'm not sure I did a very good job with these practices, I can honestly say that doing ngondro has changed my life. As I gradually went through the accumulations, I slowly gained a more deeply felt confidence in the truth and validity of the teachings in a way I had not previously known. Somehow, it seems like the preliminaries make it possible to have a glimpse of how dharma is not really something outside of you and really does lead away from confusion. Even if maybe I've misunderstood all the teachings I've heard, this connection still gives me sense of joy and hope for all of us wandering in samsara and a kind of wonder and gratitude to my teachers who have given me this opportunity. On the other hand, I went through a lot of inner and outer challenges during this time and often felt super muddled. Seeing all of your habitual tendencies (and in my case gross paranoia and reluctance to trust others) come to the surface is often very uncomfortable and was a frequent kind of thing I seemed to experience during this time. I sometimes also think it would have helped to have studied a little more beforehand (not that I've really done much now.) At any rate, I look forward to coming at these practices fresh in the 3 year retreat. Completed 400,000 Vajrasattva accumulations, as per the advice of one of my teachers.
 |previousretreatscomplete=Yes
 |previousretreatsdetails=For the past three summers I have attended month long retreats at the Palyul retreat centre in upstate NY for Ngondro(2023), Tsa Lung (2024) and Khorde Rushen (2025.)