Sangye Menhla (Medicine Tonpa) Retreat with Geshe Chongtul Rinpoche

A Retreat Participant’s Perspective

23rd – 29th, September 2010, Compton Dundon, Somerset, UK

We asked Laurie Hopkins who attended the Indiana workshop with Chongtul Rinpoche last month (to be reviewed by L.H. in the next issue of ERN) to ask a few questions of one of the participants in the workshop from England, on behalf of the Energetic Rejuvenation Newsletter. Laurie interviewed fellow Yung Drung Bon drup shenpa, Elaine Nikischer, who had just returned from Chongtul Rinpoche’s 7 day Sangye Menlha (Medicine Tonpa/Buddha) teaching in Somerset, England. Elaine lives in Yonkers, N.Y. and works in the tri-state area as an energy healer using many modalities, including Tse Dup Yung Bod. Elaine is an afficinado of spiritual pilgrimages, having journeyed to the pyramids of Egypt and the Yucatan, as well as visiting India and Brazil to further her spiritual development. * LH. Elaine is this the first time you attended a teaching in England with Rinpoche? EN. This is my second teaching with Rinpoche in England, I traveled to Glastonbury last year to learn the Sherab Chamma (Loving Mother) practice. LH. How was this workshop different from the previous? EN. Both of the healing practices precipitated energetic shifts that have had a profound impact on my soul and work as a healer. However, the Sangye Menlha teaching addressed 8 chakras with their corresponding consciousnesses and wisdoms, and this was quite unique, my having only learned of the 5 chakra system in previous Bon studies. LH. Elaine, can you share some of the most significant impressions you had with us? EN. I began to feel an intense and constant flow of warm healing energy that was activated during Rinpoche’s teaching. Now that I am back at home, I have been surprised to find that I can access this energy at will. In all classes that Rinpoche teaches, I have observed that not only do students learn to dedicate the merit for the benefit of all the sentient beings, but they are also taught actual techniques for directing healing energies to others. LH. Elaine, who benefits in your opinion? EN. The Sangye Menlha practices can be of benefit to oneself and others in the event of illness as well as those in the process of dying or for those who have already transitioned. Up until this Medicine Tonpa teaching, I always found myself in the position of sending healing to others. This time however, by an auspicious coincidence, I wound up in the center of the circle, as a designated recipient of the healing energies that were being sent by others attending the workshop. LH. Oh Elaine, can you describe how you felt? EN. Laurie, the experience was amazingly intense and caused me to have sensations of transcending physical boundaries while melding with the healing energies radiating from Rinpoche and the participants in the circle around me. For the remainder of the course I felt a pronounced sense of rejuvenation with accompanying sensations of harmony, joy, and magnetic connectedness. I felt that many of the other attendees seemed to share this state of good will, unity and expanding heart consciousness. LH. Elaine, what are some of the practices you did? Can you describe them? A week is a long time…. EN. Over the 7 days of study, Rinpoche taught sacred chants of invocation, additional mantras, hand mudras, visualizations, prostrations to the deities and dakinis, and techniques for working with the chakras and pulses. The complex visualizations of Sangye Menlha, who is often depicted as a blue deity holding a yung drung in his right hand and a medicinal herb in his left hand, varied in color, form, direction invoked, and element involved, based on the specific issue requiring healing. Chongtul Rinpoche also shared some of the historical accounts of the origins of Sangye Menlha, who was actually a manifestation of Tonpa Shenrab, the first Buddha of Bon in this world, according to Bon cosmology. One night we created a special ceremony around a bonfire, where we made offering to the nagas by saying mantras and tossing incense into the flames. I’ve heard that the photographs show a shower of orbs around Rinpoche and our group. LH. Elaine, how did the teaching conclude? EN. At the end of the teaching Chongtul Rinpoche conferred the transmission, (a blessing that can only be provided by a genuine lineage holder which sanctions the official sharing of the teaching from the lineage through the teacher to the student Ed.), he recommended that the participants continue with the Sangye Menlha practice in order to deepen the healing abilities and potentials that had been activated. LH. Thank you Elaine for your comments, do you know of some of Rinpoche’s future plans? EN. We were told that in the months ahead Rinpoche is focusing on presenting 2 major Dzochen teachings with His Holiness of Bon, Luntok Tenpai Nyima, and the 84 year old beloved and esteemed leader of Bonpos world wide. He is also preparing a workshop to train the newly graduated Drup Shenpas (Healers) in the next level of study in their evolving Tse Dup Yung Bod practice. Final Note from LH: Rinpoche maintains a teaching and traveling schedule that whirls even when he “appears” to be at rest. One can only wonder if the precious Sangye Menlha teaching is on the horizon for those of us who live on this side of “The Pond”. Please join me in holding that intention, if Elaine’s descriptions resonated with what you long for or know to be true. Chongtul Rinpoche’s vision of shifting healing consciousness in the west is taking on a momentum of its own and these amazing Bon practices are “truth-keys” that are being placed in the hands of those fortunate enough to have the opportunity to hear them. Let us embrace the sacred responsibility that comes with being in the first wave of Rinpoche’s teachings in the west. Emaho! The Earth Spirit Center The retreat was held at the EarthSpirit Centre which is on the edge of the tiny village of Compton Dundon, just outside Glastonbury in Somerset. It is situated in a beautiful landscape next to two nature reserves and lies within the ‘temenos’ (sacred enclosure) of Avalon. The centre is a complex of seventeenth century farm buildings which have been restored and specially converted for use as a workshop and retreat venue. They are set within seven acres of fields and gardens. The buildings are based around a converted 52’ (15.5m) long barn, with oak timbers, reed torching (lining the inside of the roof) and stone walls. The feeling is medieval, but with modern comforts such as under-floor heating and a large wood stove. The high roof and skylights create a light, airy atmosphere. Organized by Karen Williams http://www.himalayanhealing.com/index.html Photos contributed by Karen Williams and Henry Tischler Retreat and Teaching Overview, published in Energetic Rejuvenation E-Newsletter Vol. 3 No. 9, September 2010 Copyright Anton Baraschi.