angeloio

Dear all, My name is John and I am a new member here. There has been some marvelous work in these forums that I recently discovered and I sincerely hope to be able to add my little knowledge wherever I can and also get answers to the many questions that I have. I originally met Tibetan Buddhism a little more than two years ago in a seminar about phowa training in the Bon tradition in Budapest. There first I heard about Dzogchen, rigpa, Tapihritsa, Guru Yoga and the rest. Then I started to read a lot books about Dzogchen and Tantra ( I attended another seminar about mother Tantra in Graaz this year which was not what I was expecting - even though I got an empowerment) and here I am. From the moment I discovered Dzogchen, I felt it speak into my heart. From then onwards I am trying to experience/discover the "natural state of mind". I have read a lot about it, I even attended a direct transmission by Norbu Rinpoche via live streaming from the internet (no comments ) about a week ago but ...I guess I do not even know what I am searching for....let alone felt it.....My meditation practice is calm abiding focusing on the voidness of thoughts with eyes closed or with eyes open watching a remote natural scene. Also I try to imagine the following (most there are adaptations from text I have read in the search to find alaya of habits or even rigpa...). Try to image how would I be with no senses...especially with no sense of touch Try to imagine what it means "The experience and the experiencer are the same" Try to find out who is 'I' Try to feel in what way the vision I see with my eyes is not different from me (there is not a 'me' looking at something) Try to just *be*...do not focus on anything Be mindful and in silence most of the day Unfortunately I still do not have a personal teacher. Recently I thought I could try Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche and be his student, I even scheduled to go to his Yang Ti retreat but my financial situation did not allow it Then I learned that 1,300 people were going to attend his retreat in Italy and got more dissapointed. I guess with these numbers the possibility of becoming his student is less than...zero... Any help on understanding and realizing alaya of habits, natural state of mind, rigpa etc would be extremely welcomed. I thank you all in advance Regards John

Hi to everyone My name is John, I am a spiritual seeker for many years. I used to practice martial arts in the past. Lately, my martial arts training has led me to the Buddhist world and especially to yoga (the serious stuff...not the new age thing...), Tibetan Buddhism and Taoism to a lesser degree. And there, in the teachings of mahamudra and Dzogchen something stirred in me. I found a system both practical and which really speaks to my heart. I still do not have any mind-blowing experience but at least for the last couple of years I have a system that I can really practice and that I really feel it is the right one. I can even understand it on a neuro-scientific basis....well...most of it.... I have read hundreds of books (my library boasts over 2500 titles ! ) and even though I did not found the truth in there, I believe I found some marvelous roads to it. May all of you reach the destination you want. If I can be of any help to you I will do my best to be worthy. Regards

xabir2005 where can I find information/instructions regarding Rushan and semzin ? I am not familiar with them...

Thank you xabir2005 for all your time and interest I will look deeply into all the information you so kindly gave me. Thanks again

Hi Sunya, Thanks for your time. Unfortunately in Greece Vajrayana teachers are endangered species or I should probably say they are already extinct. It is a big shame on us with all our big ancient civilization to have reached such a state but this is reality... There is a Dzogchen Community center in Italy (the closest) but they are not very helpful or they are very busy (I bet the last). I emailed them a couple of times and did not get a reply. Unfortunately I lost the YangTi retreat because of my finances I will see Norbu however in a retreat in London and I will try to speak to him even for 5 minutes. I don't know if this is possible or not.... Regarding the webcast, I at least, did not experience anything in particular...it was just a chanting....But I do not know what I should expect...Do you have any rigpa experiences ? Thanks again