Rigpa

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rigpa

Wylie: rig pa
Sanskrit: vidya

Rigpa (Tibetan; Sanskrit vidya) is the primordial, nondual awareness advocated by the Dzogchen and Mahamudra teachings.

Rigpa is a Tibetan word, which in general means ‘intelligence’ or ‘awareness’. In Dzogchen, however, the highest teachings in the Buddhist tradition of Tibet, rigpa has a deeper connotation, ‘the innermost nature of the mind’. The whole of the teaching of Buddha is directed towards realizing this, our ultimate nature, the state of omniscience or enlightenment – a truth so universal, so primordial that it goes beyond all limits, and beyond even religion itself. —Sogyal Rinpoche

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[edit] The Rigpa organization

Rigpa is also the name of an international Buddhist organization founded by Sogyal Rinpoche.

Sogyal Rinpoche gave the name 'Rigpa' to his work and to the vehicle he was developing to serve the Buddha's teaching in the West. Now an international network with centers and groups in 23 countries around the world, Rigpa seeks:

  • To make the teachings of Buddha available to benefit as many people as possible, and
  • To offer those following the Buddhist teachings a complete path of study and practice, along with the environment they need to explore the teachings to their fullest.

[edit] The history of Rigpa

1979

After five years teaching in the West, Sogyal Rinpoche gave the name 'Rigpa' to his work.[1] At that time, Rigpa had just one centre, in north-west London.

1980s

By 1980, Sogyal Rinpoche was teaching in the UK, France, the United States, Ireland and Holland. Rigpa centres opened in a number of major cities, and in each country Rigpa was established as a non-profit organization. A progamme of Easter and summer retreats began, and Rigpa’s first retreat centre, Dzogchen Beara, was set up on the west coast of Ireland.[2]

Rigpa invited His Holiness the Dalai Lama, or sponsored his teachings or empowerments, on a number of occasions; in Paris in 1982, London in 1984 and San Jose in 1989. Five and a half thousand people attended the teachings in San Jose, in what at the time was the largest gathering of practitioners and masters of Buddhadharma in America, and possibly in the West.

Other masters who taught at Rigpa centres or events during the 1980s included His Holiness Sakya Trizin, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche, Kalu Rinpoche, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche and Trulshik Rinpoche.

1990s

In 1990, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche taught and gave empowerments to 1,500 people at Rigpa’s summer retreat near Grenoble in the French Alps.[3]

In 1992, the Dzogchen Monastery in Kollegal in India, sponsored by Rigpa, was officially inaugurated when Dzogchen Rinpoche invited His Holiness the Dalai Lama to give empowerments. In the same year, Rigpa opened its main retreat centre, Lerab Ling near Montpellier in the south of France.[4] Thich Nhat Hanh, Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok and Penor Rinpoche were among the masters who taught there in the years that followed.

In 1993, Sogyal Rinpoche published The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying,[5] the success of which led to a great expansion in the work of Rigpa.

A Spiritual Care Education and Training Programme was set up,[6] and in 1996 Rigpa presented a major conference on care for the dying, near Munich, which had a considerable influence on the emerging hospice movement in Germany.

In 1999, Trulshik Rinpoche founded the basis for a monastic community within Rigpa by ordaining the first nuns.[citation needed]

2000 onwards

In 2000, His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited Lerab Ling, and gave five days of teachings entitled The Path to Enlightenment, attended by more than 10,000 students of Tibetan Buddhism from around the world.[7] The teachings given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama have been published in a book entitled Mind in Comfort and Ease: The Vision of Enlightenment in the Great Perfection.[8]

The Rigpa Shedra, or study college, took place for the first time the following year, and in 2002, Lerab Ling was officially recognized as a ‘religious congregation’.

In 2006, a traditional three-storey temple at Lerab Ling was completed, including a seven-metre high statue of Buddha Shakyamuni. Rigpa's first three-year retreat began, with over 300 people remaining in closed retreat at Lerab Ling from 2006-2009, and over 3,000 students following a 'home retreat' programme in their own countries.

In 2007, work began on Rigpa's Spiritual Care Centre at Dzogchen Beara.[9]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The History of Rigpa, The Rigpa Journal, volume 2
  2. ^ DzogchenBeara.org: About Us
  3. ^ Rigpa Wiki: Prapoutel 1990
  4. ^ LerabLing.org: About Lerab Ling
  5. ^ Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, ISBN 0-06-250834-2
  6. ^ Rigpa.org:Spiritual Care
  7. ^ Rigpa Wiki:Lerab Gar 2000
  8. ^ Wisdom Publications: Mind in Comfort and Ease
  9. ^ The Spiritual Care Centre at Dzogchen Beara, Who are we?

[edit] External links