Tsegyalgar West

I'm sitting in this cafe and I realized that I didn't really talk a whole lot about my time in Mexico despite that being one of the supposed subject of the Devotion post. Whoops.

So, how about a post that's actually about Tsegyalgar West?

Boulder at first gate; OM A HUM painted on the rock

I was there for the entirety of winter break and then some; I was flying standby on a friend's employee pass and  my original flight was delayed, so I was there for an extra few days.

The place is really beautiful. If you'd like an idea of how it looks, you can google "Tsegyalgar West" or check out some of my photos here. It's a fairly remote and rustic area, the most developed buildings are the casitas and even they have pit toilets. The casitas aren't my favorite part of the land; they're these concrete structures that are built and colored in such a way as to not really fit in with the rest of the landscape, in my opinion. But the other structures are pretty nice, as permanent structures go. The kitchen/dining area just has a palapa above it, as does the platform for Vajra Dance.

breakfast

While there the schedule was pretty relaxed. After a week or so there, our Master began a retreat, which we listened to via webcast. After the webcast each morning I would help prepare food; we split daily tasks up between the people at the Gar and my main task was breakfast. Along with the teachings, which were two hours every morning for a week, we learned/practiced some basic yoga and a couple different dance practices. Since it had been some time since I'd done these practices, it was nice to relearn and reconnect with them. It was also great learning from the instructors there, both of them are fantastic teachers with an impressive passion and depth of knowledge.

Apart from that week, the schedule was relatively relaxed. We would do a little bit of daily practice of yoga and dance most days and a few times people went off the property to a beach or just to relax. We also did some physical work around the property while there, moving gravel and things like that.

One thing I loved about being there, apart from the clean air and relaxed atmosphere, was the structure of meals. Lunch and dinner tended to be long-lasting affairs, taking up a good couple hours. The time was filled with great conversation and alcohol, which I really enjoyed. Actually, something that struck me was how generous pretty much everyone in the community is. People didn't really think twice about buying a bottle or two of wine and sharing with everyone at dinner. It was fantastic.

I loved the place. I was sad to leave and I'm looking forward to returning this coming winter break. A resident currently there is working on building sustainable retreat huts on the property, not far from the kitchen. It sounds like a great project and from pictures I've seen, I'm really excited for them to be completed and I'm hoping to stay in one when I go back.

I think that's about it. If anyone has any questions about my experience at Tsegyalgar West, feel free to ask in the comment section below!


Peace.

Devotion

Lately I've really been ramping up my Santi Maha Sangha studies in preparation for my teacher's retreats this summer. One of the many topics covered in SMS is devotion and faith. According to the text, faith is the foundation of pretty much all practice. Which makes sense; without faith, why would you ever bother practicing? And devotion to the teacher is an extension of this foundation.

So, I thought I'd make a well overdue post about my time in Mexico and talk a bit about devotion.

I spent ~24 days of winter break at Tsegyalgar West, a retreat center in Mexico within my teacher's mandala. While there I spent a lot of time both engaging in actual practice and relaxing with the other members of the Dzogchen Community. One thing I was struck by is not only how amazing our teacher is but also at how amazing our community is.

Something uniting all of us is our devotion to Rinpoche. In fact, I'd say that's one of the only things uniting all the members of our Community; our devotion to Rinpoche and our dedication (however strong) to the Teachings.

Devotion is a wonderful thing. I just watched Words of My Perfect Teacher and in it, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche makes a great point. Devotion is about confidence in and understanding of the law of cause and effect; if we have the right cause and conditions then it will produce an effect. Devotion is understanding that the Teacher and His Teachings are the cause and the effect is Buddhahood and so long as there are the conditions of correct understanding and exertion in practice, the effect of realization will follow that cause. That's really what devotion is about, it's understanding that all realization comes from the Teacher and a deep appreciation for the deep compassion expressed in teaching all of us.

Every time I think of how much effort my teachers expend in traveling and teaching and explaining and doing practice, I feel a very profound sense of devotion and appreciation. I would venture to say it's one of the more profound emotions I've ever had. It's certainly the unique emotion that's not caught up with my own bullshit. And I think that's part of the point of devotion; it's not about us, it's not about our tension or our trips or our issues. It's a pure sense of gratitude and a deep understanding.

And I think that's really fantastic.

Alright, time to do some reading. Peace.