Open Buddha

Two Days to Madison

It sounds like a song…

In two days, I’ll be in Madison, Wisconsin. I leave my house around 4:30 AM Friday morning to catch a 7:09 AM plane via Minneapolis. When I get there, I’ll meet my friend, Bill Bainbridge, and his wife and we’ll get the rental car and maybe find our motel.

Friday night is a lecture/talk with Younge Khachab Rinpoche. Saturday and Sunday, we are meeting for a few hours in the morning and then in the afternoon. There will be a Dorje Drollo empowerment done at that time and Rinpoche will also be discussing Dream Yoga.

Bill, who has been Younge Khachab’s student for a couple of years now, arranged (seemingly) for me to get an interview with him with his translator present (a big plus!). Rinpoche is relatively well regarded as a Dzogchen teacher so I want to discuss my interests and my background over the last couple of years including the Tsegyalgar retreat I attended with Namkhai Norbu, etc. to give him some context of where I am at.

Rinpoche has a pretty sebstantial Vajrayana program set up for his students in Madison and is starting a shedra there but Bill has not been required to run through the multiyear Vajrayana track before Rinpoche was willing to work with him on Dzogchen. Bill has explained to me that Younge Khachab is pretty open to where students are at, what their interests are, etc. as long as they seem like they’ll practice and work with the material given. He figures that Rinpoche will get a sense of me on meeting, perhaps give me some instruction on Khorde Rushen or an introduction to the Guru Yoga that he teaches which includes a section that is Semde Trekchod.

Even if we don’t have time (or he isn’t inclined) for anything beyond the interview, this lays the groundwork for maybe bringing him to Seattle this Fall and should also open the door for my attending his five day Dzogchen retreat in May, which is only open by permission.