Buddhist practice and Drala Jong
Vajrayana is Art. We therefore see, hear, imagine, inhale, taste and feel the efflorescence of the senses as Art. – Ngak'chang Rinpoche
In 2004 I became a student of Vajrayana Buddhist teachers Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Dechen, the principal teachers and lineage holders of the body of teachings that make up the Aro gTér Tradition, Vajrayana Buddhist teachings with their origins in the Himalayan region.
In 2011, I was ordained as a Naljorma (yogini) in the gö-kar-chang-lo’i dé, and given the name Tsül’dzin. Gö-kar-chang-lo’i dé, (which translates as white skirt and uncut hair), is a stream of practice that was established in Tibet in the eight century at the same time as the monastic traditions. The principles of practice are based on transformation and self-liberation (not liberation of the self) rather than those of the monastic renunciation. We are ‘householders’ in other words we live our lives uncloistered and involved with work, families and society. Within these conditions we find the ground and activity of our practice. The Aro gTér Tradition contains methods of that are highly pertinent and practical within busy and full contemporary lives, positioning extraordinary opportunities for profound practice right in our homes and our daily lives.
Over the years I have engaged in regular solitary retreats under the guidance of Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Dechen, and have made pilgrimages to Nepal and Bhutan, to engage in retreat and to receive instruction from their last remaining teacher, Jomo Sam’phel Déchen Rinpoche.
The Aro Tradition has a number of physical practices, one of which is sKu-mNyé which I teach. It is unusual 111 exercises, which are practiced in conjunction with a period of prone, open eyed meditation, the exercise active the psycho-physical body in ways which cultivate opportunity for profound meditation experiences.
A main focus is helping realise the establishment of Drala Jong, a project to create a retreat centre and home for the tradition at a rural property in Carmarthenshire. The work I do is primarily as a volunteer fundraiser. Drala Jong means is Tibetan for ‘Sparkling Meadow of Primal Iridescence’.
Vajrayana Buddhism places enormous emphasis on the Arts, and this is explicitly encouraged through Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen’s example in their fostering and cultivation of the traditional Vajrayana Arts as a vital sphere of practice, and their great love and appreciation for the arts of as they are found in the Western traditions.
You can read more about it here:
With Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen in 2011 on the occasion of my ordination.