Ordination - Ngakma Nor'dzin and Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin

 

In this video from February 2010, Ngakma Nor’dzin & Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin explain what it means to take ordination within the Aro gTér Lineage.

 

Transcript

Ngakma Nor’dzin: To be ordained is to make a commitment to Lamas, Lineage and Sangha that is deeper than apprenticeship. One is not expressing confidence, one is expressing certainty. One is expressing that you believe that not only will you be part of this Lineage for this life, but that it is going to be unbreakable – that potentially you’re going to be part of this lineage and have a relationship with these Lamas for all future lives as well.

Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin: People can become apprentices and then stop being apprentices – and that’s built into the structure of the apprentice programme, because you don’t know how interested you are in something until you start. It’s impossible to say that once you’re an apprentice you’re always an apprentice, because you actually don’t know what you’re getting into. So to be able to become an apprentice within the Sangha there’s the idea of a probationary period where you’re still learning about what it means to be an apprentice. People can decide, having seen what apprenticeship looks like, that they no longer want to practise in that way. Or they can decide from there that they feel really settled within this Sangha and settled within this is kind of practice and decide that apprenticeship is something that they want to be part of in the long term. This may or may not lead towards ordination.

Ngakma Nor’dzin has explained ordination. It’s not expected, and even if it is asked for, it’s not necessarily the case that it’s going to happen – because both the Lama and the potential disciple have to be ready for that relationship. So this can take a long time of having a person who is pre-ordained, or working towards ordination, to come to the point of understanding what that’s going to mean. Pre-ordination is almost like a probationary period leading up to ordination where you discover whether that’s what you really want.

Ngakma Nor’dzin: So it’s a bit like getting engaged. Pre-ordination is like being engaged. You said you’re going to get married and you then behave as if you are married, to try that out and see what it’s like. The ordination is the actual marriage.

Are animals enlightened? - Illusory Advice

 

The directness of interaction with their environment that you perceive in animals is instinctive rather than realised. It may be useful to draw a distinction here between living in the physical form of an animal and living in the animal-realm.

Having a physical animal form does not necessarily mean that such a being always dwells in the animal-realm. We have met horses—for example—who certainly possess a sense of humour, which would usually be regarded as a human characteristic. We have heard of animals and birds who create and manipulate tools, and of others who display acts of selflessness and kindness. Such characteristics might suggest that these animals may in fact dwell in the human-realm – at least in part. 

It can be recognised that those who have the physical form of human beings can display animal characteristics: those who slavishly follow the dictates of fashion, for example, display lack of freedom of choice. Those who live their lives regimented by habitual rules, or eat with no real appreciation of taste, texture, aroma, or aesthetics, are closer to the animal-realm than the human-realm. Those who follow a sports team to the degree of having aggression towards rival supporters are living an animal-realm mentality. 

Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor’dzin & Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-898185-37-6, p19

Let the sound flow freely with delight! - Relaxing into Meditation

 

Singing enables us to let go of our inhibitions and preconceptions about our ability to sing. We open our mouths, and let the sound flow freely with delight. Singing is in itself an invigorating and expansive practice if we allow our voices to be free. It has been wonderful to witness the change in people through this practice. At first a lot of people will barely open their mouths and will find it difficult to produce any sound at all. Once they have practised this a few times however, even the most timid will start to really open their mouths and give voice.

Relaxing into Meditation, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2010, ISBN: 978-1-898185-17-8, p21

 

Levels of Commitment - Ngakma Nor'dzin and Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin

 

In this video from February 2010, Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin explain the levels of commitment that are possible within the Aro Lineage.

Transcript

Ngakma Nor’dzin: From an external viewpoint it could appear that the process of becoming involved in apprenticeship is a little bit like a conveyor belt. You start off being interested, coming to open retreats. You get more interested, so you become an apprentice. Then you get more interested, and you become ordained, and so on. But it doesn’t actually have to be like that.

We’re very happy for people to simply come to open retreats and to have a connection with us and with the lineage in that way. We’re also very happy for people who decide to become an apprentice, if they never want to be ordained, if they never want to enter into taking that level of commitment – that is absolutely fine. So there is no sense of, once you start having a relationship with us it’s assumed that you’re on some sort of roller-coaster that will take you through to the ultimate experience of becoming an ordained disciple.

Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin: I think it’s very important to know that it’s perfectly fine for someone’s relationship with Buddhism to be similar to that of going to church on Sunday. It doesn’t have to be any more than that. If that is useful and meaningful to somebody in their lives then that is a good place to practise. We’ve seen people who become interested in Buddhism who thought ‘If I can’t commit absolutely everything there’s no point in me even starting’. Then they leave, whereas perhaps a little bit of involvement might be worthwhile. So it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. There are various levels of engagement, all of which we’re entirely happy with. 

If people just want to come to the group and sit with us, that would be fine. If people want to become an apprentice, that’s also fine. So there isn’t a sense in which people are pushed on in their practice unless they come to us and ask to be pushed. The relationship between us in the rôle of teachers, and our students who are apprentices, is a mutual relationship where people will ask us questions. People will decide for themselves perhaps that they want a bit more prodding, prompting and direction, but that doesn’t come from us. So if people ask us, “What do I do next, which practice should I be doing?” then we will give them an indication of that.

Ngakma Nor’dzin: The process of becoming ordained is quite a long term event in itself. It could take up to five years from first saying ‘I would like to become ordained’, to actually entering the ceremony and making that formal commitment. So that gives the student and ourselves the time to really look at whether this is going to work with them, whether they really understand it, whether it is going to be right for them in their lives, whether we can develop that relationship with them and them with us.

I can be whatever I wish to be - Spacious Passion

 

Once I get a feeling for living in the present moment I can be whatever I wish to be. I can dissolve the mind that constrains the present with concepts of the past. I can let go of the churning over of remembered moments that feign permanence through arrogated reliving. I can dissolve the mind that wishes to influence the future through projection of expectation, to feign permanence through arrogated fantasy. I do not have to be defined by who I was in the last moment, or who I think I might be in the next. If I wake up in a bad mood, I can simply allow that mood to die and allow a good mood moment to be born. I can shout the yogic syllable ‘Ha’ to explode the bad-mood-mind moment and be reborn in good-mood-mind-moment. I am liberated! I am free to be kind-mind-moment-person, ecstatic-mind-moment person, and brave-mind-moment-person.

Spacious Passion,Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books worldwide,2006,ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 5 Infinite Impermanence, p127 

 

 

Regarding all phenomena as illusory - Battlecry of Freedom

Phenomena appear to the mind like clouds, and then change, and move, and dissipate. There is no fixed identity of cloud, or permanent abiding form, shape, colour, or texture. Any attempt to apply identity, or permanence of form, shape, colour, or texture is an illusion.

Until awakening is embraced it is not possible to accurately and directly determine the nature of phenomena. Regarding all phenomena as illusory allows the mind to be open and receptive. It prevents grasping and concretising. It is awakening view.

Battlecry of Freedom by Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2019, ISBN 978-1-898185-46-8, Part II - the slogans, pp55-56

Types of Ordination in the Aro Lineage - Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin

 

 

In this video from February 2010, Ngakma Nor’dzin explains the different types of ordination in the Aro gTér Lineage

Transcript

Ngakma Nor’dzin: There are two types of ordination that are offered within the Aro Lineage. The Ngakmas and Ngakpas, and the Naljormas and Naljorpas. There’s not a huge difference between them. They express a slight difference in capacity or temperament perhaps.

Ngakpas and Ngakmas – the name means ‘Mantra person’ so they’re probably more Tantric practitioners working more with Tantric practices and mantra accumulation and more ritual practice. The Naljor stream is more connected with Dzogchen and the Yogic practices.

But in fact all Aro Lineage practitioners practise all the practices. A practice doesn’t become unavailable because you’ve taken one type of ordination and not the other.