Lama's Full Moon Letter Oct 2022 part 2

Tulku Sherdor Visit, Mandala Principle and Locals Tea Party

Tulku Sherdor Visit and Mandala Principle

We had a lot of excitement here at the Hermitage about the visit of Tulku Sherdor, he was here Sept 9th through the 14th. It was wonderful to spend time talking to him, we both enjoyed our conversations very much, they were quite far ranging. His talk on Saturday was very valuable. He taught Mipam's commentary on the Guhyagarbha Tantra on the Mandala Principle and gave us a context for these teachings and the whole framework for them, which I think is going to be very important for us to explore together. 

On Sunday we had the conversation between Tulku Sherdor and myself on Guru Principle. People found it very helpful to hear us discussing the different aspects of the guru principle with each other. Especially his feelings about how to relate to the Guru online and what kind of transmissions can be safely done online, although not ideal. And also what he felt you couldn't do online, which led to an interesting discussion and a slight shift in his point of view as we talked. I found that again, very affirming. It is a great value to hear other teachers point of view on the different roles that I tease out in the Guru Principal book. So that's another instalment of teaching events of discussing the Guru Principle with different Buddhist teachers.

We also spent an hour or so with Dashu in his retreat. It was good for him to talk to Tulku Sherdor about his role as Lama, which also Tara was asking him, and he was very encouraging and talked about how he's doing something similar in his own Sangha, creating Lama's. So that felt very affirming for them. Tulku Sherdor pointed out, as Lama Phuntsho  had before that actually Dashu, as a name, is not the correct form as a shortened version of his name. We have been calling Dhashu ‘Dashu’ as a shortening of his full-name, Dawa Shon- nu, Gampopa’s name which translates as Moon (Dawa) and Youth (Shon nu). Taking the first part of his first name and adding the first part of the second name comes out as Da Shon. Many Tibetans have pointed this out over the years because Da-shu would be Arrow (da) and Bow (shu) so to shorten Dawa Shon nu to Dashu is wrong. It was my mistake and now I want to correct it.  So from now on please call him Dashon in order to end the confusion!

He's very keen to study the Mandala Principle following Mipam's explanations and also following the course that Tulku Sherdor gave to his students, I think it's about 30 talks. And so Dashon will have time to look at that next year, which is really good tendral because I had already talked to him about wanting him to focus on DHB teachings and mandala principle in particular, so that fits very well with the next stage of his retreat. 

I'm continuing the work on the mandala principle book with Gendun although I've realised I don't have the energy to do much more groundwork that he and the team have got to produce the book themselves, really. And I can just answer questions and maybe when it's 80 or 90% done I can read it through and make any comments. Because I just don't have the energy for a big project now. But in general, my health is good and I have energy. It just runs out much faster than it used to, so I'm still trying to get used to that. The thing I regret the most is that I don't have the energy to talk to you all in personal interviews very much anymore. I regret that very much but you all have good colleagues to talk to and mentors and I'm still around so questions can be sent to me and so on. So it's not as bad as it might have been but I am sorry, I do miss talking to you and some of you I haven't talked to you much or even at all. 

Garden Tea Party

We also had a tea party for locals on Saturday September 24th and I was very pleased with the interest shown by our neighbours. There were maybe 35 to 40 people here during the course of the afternoon and the weather was warm enough for us to spend time outside. The neighbours were very pleased to have this opportunity to have a look around the Hermitage and to see what we're doing, and also to have the opportunity to meet each other in a social situation like this. There were even inquiries about whether we would do it again, at some point, especially from those people we met afterwards, who were sorry they hadn't been able to come.  So this seemed to be a good step forward in integrating in the local community and strengthening the connections with our neighbours which can only be a good thing for the Hermitage over time.

More news to come soon!

Love

Shenpen