Host Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and invited guests from six Tibetan spiritual traditions engage in a reading of sacred poetry. Poetry readers include Geshe Tri Yungdrung (Bön), Tulku Yeshi Rinpoche (Nyingma), Khenpo Kunga Trinley (Kagyu), Lopon Ngawang Thokmay (Sakya), Khenpo Ngawang Dorjee (Jonang), Beri Geshe Jigme Wangyal (Gelug). In Tibetan language with limited translation to English and multiple other languages.
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Geshe Tri Yungdrung (Bön)
“The Advisory Speech of Lishu Taring,” by Bön Dzogchen Master Lishu Taring
In this spiritual song, Lishu Taring highlights the excellent qualities and remarkable benefits of the teachings and practice of dzogchen.
Tulku Yeshi Rinpoche (Nyingma)
“The Song of the Gathering,” by Jigme Lingpa; and “The Song of the Enchanting Wisdom,” by Longchen Rabjam
In the first song, Jigme Lingpa expresses his deep appreciation for the auspicious gathering permitted by the great Lama’s presence. In the second, Longchen Rabjam praises the great beauty, peace, and joyfulness of the hermitage where he dwells. Despite any contentment and delight, Longchen Rabjam warns, all compositional phenomena are impermanent; thus, in seeking enlightenment we must take the advantage of our existing fortune.
Khenpo Kunga Trinley (Kagyu)
“Challenge from a Wise Demoness,” from the Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa
In essence, this song helps one understand that “He who fails to realize the mind’s voidness can never be exempt from the influence of evil.”
Lopon Ngawang Thokmay (Sakya)
“The Celebration of the Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen’s Victory”
In this spiritual song, the author expresses his remarkable victory over Hindu master Haria Ananda in philosophical debate.
Khenpo Ngawang Dorjee (Jonang)
“The Advisory Speech of Taranatha” and “The Intensive Invocation to the Venerable Lady”
In the first song, Taranatha metaphorically categorizes the essence of all Buddhist teachings into 32 different practices. In the second, author Ngawang Lodro Drakpa, through making an intensive invocation to the venerable lady (Packma), introduces the systems of sutra and tantra and in particular the practices of the two stages of Kalachkra tradition.
Beri Geshe Jigme Wangyal (Gelug)
“Eastern Snowy Mountain,” by the Omniscient Master Gedun Drup
In this spiritual song, through articulating his deep devotion and longing for his teacher Je Tsongkhapa and Je Tsongkhapa’s foremost disciples, the author Gedun Drup urges us to respect other sects and to practice the Dharma by adhering to the essence of Buddha’s teaching: pure view and altruism.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
Geshe Tri Yungdrung (Bön) was born in 1985 in Amdo, Tibet. In 2003, he traveled to India to study Bön sutra, tantra, and dzogchen at Menri Monastery. Upon graduating in 2018, he obtained the title of geshe. He has served as president and board member of the Sorig Bumzhi Menri Ling medical college since 2014. He has attended numerous international conferences and seminars and earned several awards. He is the author of five books and has contributed numerous articles to The Bon-sgo Journal.
Tulku Yeshi Rinpoche (Nyingma) is a dzogchen master and the reincarnation of Drubchen Thodo Rinpoche. He received Tibetan Buddhist teachings and studied traditional Tibetan medicine from 45 masters representing all five schools of Tibetan Buddhism. He is a highly trained Lama within an authentic and powerful lineage. A poet, artist and author of 20 books, he is the founder of Heruka International. He gives teachings and empowerments extensively across North America as well as internationally.
Khenpo Kunga Trinley (Kagyu) started his monastic training at age 7 in Tergar Monastery. At age 15, he undertook a three-year-and-three-month intensive meditation retreat in the Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism and completed it successfully. He studied all 13 great Buddhist treatises and taught poetry at Zunsa Scriptural College. He studied at Central University for Tibetan Studies in Varanasi, India, and received his degree\title of khenpo from Zunsa Scriptural College. For three years, he trained and participated in neurology and psychology in University of Massachusetts, U.S. He currently teaches internationally for the Tergar Meditation Community, and serves as resident teacher at Tergar International. He is known online as “Misunpo.”
Lopon Ngawang Thokmay (Sakya) was born in Deenri, Tibet. After completing elementary school there, in 2007 he escaped to India. He received his master’s degree from Sakya Buddhist College in 2018, and is currently teaching courses in the Sakya tradition in Varanasi, India.
Khenpo Ngawang Dorjee (Jonang) was born in Golok, Amdo. He has studied Tibetan grammar, poetry, astrology, sutra, and tantra, as well as the arts and sciences. He completed a three-years-and-three-months intensive meditation retreat in the Kalachakra Tantra. In 1996 he received Donak Rabjampa (doctor of exoteric and esoteric Buddhist studies) and became a khenpo. In 1999 he went to India, where he taught Buddhism at the Takten Phuntsok Choeling monastery in Shimla for three years. He worked in the research branch of the Tibetan Government in Exile for two years and wrote a book about Buddhist monasteries in Nepal, Bhutan, and India. He also composed a poetic account of the life of H.H. the Dalai Lama and a life story of Khal-ka Jetsun Dampa, among other compositions. In 2003, he went to United States, and taught Buddhism in New York and Atlanta. In 2006 he transitioned to the University of Virginia, where he worked in the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library as an editor. He taught courses in colloquial Tibetan. In 2007, he founded the Tashi Choeling Buddhist Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he serves as director.
Beri Geshe Jigme Wangyal (Gelug) was born in Tibet. He arrived in India in 1989 and studied at Drepung Monastery. In 2003 he was invited as a visiting scholar to Indiana University, U.S., where he taught a course in the history department. He received his geshe degree in 2004. He served as a member of the Tibetan Parliament in exile. He has participated in various international conferences and has taught students from many countries around the world. He is the author of 21 books. Currently he serves as a teacher and chair of the literature department at Central University for Tibetan Studies in Varanasi, India.
ABOUT THE HOST
Geshe Tenzin Wangyal is an acclaimed author and a respected teacher of students worldwide. As the founder and spiritual director of Ligmincha International, he has established numerous centers and institutes of learning in the United States, Mexico, South America, Europe and India. Fluent in English, Rinpoche regularly offers online teachings in the form of live webcasts, online workshops and YouTube videos. He is renowned for his depth of wisdom; his clear, engaging teaching style; and his dedication to making the ancient Tibetan teachings highly accessible and relevant to the lives of Westerners.