Well, the retreat is over. As with all retreats, you only know afterwards how it was, as you see the ways you seem to have changed. I feel changed, very much.
Anam Thubten Rinpoche is a maverick: despite his robes he discourages much ceremony, and goes straight to the teachings of Lord Buddha. He is relentless. He doesn’t stop expounding the teachings, gently hammering home the key point of the Dharma, which is to drop attachment.
Anam Thubten Rinpoche is coming to Austin in eight days from now, and this to me is a very big deal, even on a path made up of no big deals. He’ll be here for the retreat weekend of July 28th and 29th, plus the Friday evening on the 27th.
If you’ve never experienced Anam Thubten Rinpoche, well, maybe you should. You can’t help but love the man, his spirit is so warm, and he’s so positive. His particular thing is wakefulness, he wants us to wake up now. He makes it seem possible.
Venerable Khenpo Namdrol Rinpoche will be in Austin, Texas July 22 – July 26.
He will be at Padma World Peace Park to hold a ceremony and a puja on Tuesday July 24th, which is Guru Rinpoche day
This appears to be followed by a teaching on July 25th - more details to follow as they become clear.
In 2002 Venerable Khenpo Namdrol Rinpoche founded the Padmasambhava Global Project for World Peace. His biography appears here.
Anam Thubten Rinpoche is coming to Austin this month to hold a weekend retreat, on the weekend of July 28-29. This will occur at Clear Spring Studio – 605 Copeland St., Austin, Texas 78704. The weekend costs $125, and the talk on Friday evening, July 27th, is by donation.
If you’ve never experienced Anam Thubten Rinpoche you should at least come for the talk on Friday, and if your experience is like mine and others you’ll take away an enduring gift of power. Anam Thubten Rinpoche is a gift giver, and his focus is on awakening now.
America to me is the great Liberal creation of the western path, arising as the flower of the so-called Enlightenment, in an age when reason was adored, and adhered to. The American people, back in those Revolutionary days, were remarked across the world for their distinct “virtue”, a happy blend of piety and individual self-worth and civic sacrifice…
It took a few times coming to the Center to begin to grasp how much of what was happening was intentional, and dependent on the efforts of several people […] The Dorje Kasung are the true warriors, their slogan is Victory Over War. They are always awake and mindful, that’s their practice.
Level I weekend was amazing. The people who came were a varied bunch, some sitting for the first time, but many with their own histories and practices, not necessarily Buddhist. There were around twenty participants.
The participants themselves were the best part of the program. I expected them to be squirming and rebellious after a time, but we all remarked how seasoned they seemed. They sat very still, all weekend, and practiced what they were being taught.
I’d like to point you to a piece by James Moore from January of this year, 2007, called The O.J. President.
The article begins to set the oddness of the George W. Bush presidency into the etched relief that we are accustomed to in the considered judgments of history. By contrast to its cooling waters, I understand how panic-stricken we have been through these desolated years of the Bush administration.
I’ll be volunteering to staff the Level I intensive this weekend. No, I won’t be blogging live from the shrine room 
Level I is particularly my constituency - the relative newcomers. These are the people I want to write this blog for. People who’ve been around the Center or the Dharma for a year or two can find their own way to the programs and the teachers. The newcomers could use some signposts - or so I believe.
