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 validity of the teachings and Vajrayana path. Somehow, it seems like the preliminaries create the kind of circumstance where a new sort of faith in the three jewels, and thus yourself, can arise. On the other hand, I went through a lot of inner and outer challenges during this time and often felt super muddled. I 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 during 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 validity of the Vajrayana path. Somehow, it seems like the preliminaries create the kind of circumstance where a new sort of faith in the three jewels, and thus yourself, can arise. On the other hand, I went through a lot of inner and outer challenges during this time and often felt super muddled. I 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 during 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.)
+|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.)
 |ynadvstudiesprogs=Yes
 |advstudiesprogsdetails=I'm not sure if this counts, but since last September, I've been taking self paced courses on Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche's Vajrayana online platform and have completed courses on the view of the 4 sutra schools, Jamgon Kongtrul's text Creation and Completion and the Bodhicaryavatara. These courses have been a great help, clarifying many tricky points and deepening my appreciation of the dharma with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche's uniquely accessible and clear explanations and a rich array of supplementary course materials.
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 In my limited experience, I've sometimes felt I was becoming a little more aware of the negative habits of mind that are the driving force behind one's projections and suffering and that this pattern will simply go on endlessly if left unchecked. Dharma practice seems to bring all these negativities up, and after a sense of once again being confronted with my own delusion during a week-long retreat for Green Tara practice in rural Ontario this past September, I felt that now was the time to research the possibility of a three-year retreat more earnestly. Wanting to continue in the Nyingma tradition and having heard that Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche was doing one in France, I got in touch with the coordinator there. Listening to some of Rinpoche's teachings online, I felt deeply inspired by his clear explanations and evident compassion and greatly longed to learn from this master. Also, some time back I had been amazed by his father Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche's memoir, Blazing Splendor, which talks a lot about the Chokling Tersar history and this increased my interest to do this specific retreat. Bearing in mind the four thoughts, refuge/bodhicitta and the great force of habitual tendency, I believe practicing dharma in long-term retreat to be the ideal way to work with the samsaric state of delusion in which I find myself. This retreat in particular would be an amazing opportunity to go deeper into the tradition I feel most connected to, having at this point developed at least some small faith and connection to Guru Rinpoche through the blessings of my Palyul masters.
-I spent a week over the new years holiday at Gomde Pyrenees while Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche was visiting to open up the then just finishing first 3 year retreat. Aside from the spiritual impact of meeting Rinpoche and receiving his blessing to take part, it was also really helpful to speak with some of participants from the first group and this definitely made me feel more confident going forward that it is a really worthwhile opportunity, in spite of whatever hardships you might encounter. Drupbon Lama Tenzin gave a talk on the 3 year retreat and said that if by the end of retreat we're not realized, there's no need to feel bad; we will know how to practice dharma and be on the path and that's enough. I've kept this in my heart since.
+I spent a week over the new years holiday at Gomde Pyrenees while Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche was visiting to open up the then just finishing first 3 year retreat. Aside from the spiritual impact of meeting Rinpoche and receiving his blessing to take part, it was also really helpful to speak with some participants from the first group and this definitely made me feel more confident going forward that it is a really worthwhile opportunity, in spite of whatever hardships you might encounter. Drupbon Lama Tenzin gave a talk on the 3 year retreat and said (roughly) that if by the end we're not realized, there's no need to feel bad; we will know how to practice dharma and be on the path and that's enough. I've kept this in my heart since.
 Especially as a beginner, the difficulties of trying to balance dharma practice with everyday life's endless demands, complications and confusion are many, and given the drastic state of the world right now, it seems really important to do what you can to try to work with your own ridiculous thoughts and develop at least some basic sanity and compassion. For post retreat life, my aspiration is that whatever change I've gone through during these few years will help me to more effectively ripple out loving energy and benefit to the world, if only in whichever very small ways I may be capable of, and that I will be somewhat better prepared for death, whenever it may come. I hope to return to playing and writing music (which has been the main focus in my life), to find some work and continue to focus as much as possible on dharma practice and study.