February newsletter 2015 – Aro Ling Buddhist Centre Cardiff

The first weekend retreat at Aro Ling Buddhist Centre was a great success. Several people travelled from Bristol to attend, as well as one person from Cornwall, and the rest of the group lived locally. Offering separate sessions over the weekend also worked well. Two people were only able to be with us for one session, two people attended two sessions, one person came for three sessions, and the rest were present for the whole weekend. Eight of us enjoyed a lovely lunch together at the nearby restaurant, Miss Jones; and later we had afternoon tea and cake at Coffee #1.

There will not be a weekend retreat in February because Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’o-Dzin are teaching a weekend at the Aro Ling Buddhist Centre in Bristol that month: 20th and 21st February. They are teaching on the history of the Aro gTér, Natural Dignity and Regency Dancing as an aspect of Natural Dignity. 

The next weekend in Cardiff will be the 13 - 15th March. The topic—as requested—will be The Songs of the Owl-faced Dakini. As before, it will be possible to attend one session, several sessions, or all five – the choice is yours.

The Songs of the Owl-faced Dakini

– a weekend retreat: March 13 – 15, 2015
£6 a session or £25 for the whole weekend – attend one, several or all sessions

Session 1: Fundamental Certainties  Friday March 13th 19:00 – 20:30  
– the first and most fundamental teaching of Buddhism: the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path
Session 2: Being a Buddhist  Saturday March 14th  10:00 – 12:00   
– taking refuge, becoming a Buddhist, and living within the five precepts; understanding the principles of Buddhism
Session 3: Irrepressible Expansiveness  Saturday March 14th  14:00 – 16:00   
– the 10 paramitas as a means of becoming a Bodhisattva - Awakened-Mind Warrior
Session 4: Tantric Empowerment  Saturday March 14th  18:00 – 20:00   
– transmission of the practice of Padmasambhava, the tantric Buddha and founder of the Nyingma Tradition
Session 5: Cyclic existence  Sunday March 15th  10:00 – 12:00  
- the mechanism of samsara; how we maintain the cycle of dissatisfaction and how to let this patterning dissolve and unravel itself of itself
 
Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin will lead this weekend of teachings. The Songs of the Owl-faced Dakini encompass the teachings of Sutra presented from the basis of Inner Tantra.

The days and times of regular events at Aro Ling Buddhist Centre in Cardiff have changed slightly for the new year. We are no longer opening on a Friday, but are opening on a Thursday instead.
Discovering the Spaciousness of Mind – first Saturday of each month, 10 – 12, £5
Tibetan Yoga for the over 50s – Tuesday, one hour class 10:30 re,quested donation £3
Guided Meditation – Tuesday, 12:00 – 13:00, requested donation £3  

Meditation Group – Tuesday, 19:00 – 20:30, requested donation £5

Tibetan Yoga – Wednesday, one hour class 14:00, requested donation £3
Children’s Story-time – Wednesday, 15:45 – 16:15, requested donation £1
Tibetan Yoga – Wednesday, one hour class 17:30, requested donation £3
Tibetan Yoga – Thursday, one hour class at 10:30, requested donation £3
Guided Meditation – Thursday, 12:00 – 13:00, requested donation £3                     

Gomchenma Künzang Rang-rig Long-tsal

Khyungchen Aro Lingma

Born on 2nd January, Gomchenma Künzang Rang-rig Long-tsal was the grand-niece of Jomo Chhi’mèd Pema. Aro Lingma requested that Gomchenma Künzang Rang-rig Long-tsal introduce the naljorpa and naljorma vows into the Aro gTér Tradition, and asked Ngak’chang A-kyong Dud-dul Dorje to introduce the ngakpa and ngakma vows. Aro Lingma esteemed both variants of the gö-kar-chang-lo as important methods of practice, and encouraged them equally. These gö-kar-chang-lo ordination lines go back to the time of Padmasambhava and Yeshé Tsogyel in Tibet.

Jomo Pema ’ö-Zér

Jomo Pema ’ö-Zér

Born on 1st January, Jomo Pema ’ö-Zér Dri’mèd Yingma  (Jo mo pad ma ’od zer dri ’med dByings ma – Lady Lotus Light Rays in Immaculate Space, 1839-1902) was an incarnation of Tashi Chhi’drèn.

Jomo Pema ’ö-Zér’s sang-yab or spiritual consort was Rang-rig Togden, and together, they were the mother and father of Khyungchen Aro Lingma. Jomo Pema ’ö-Zér and Rang-rig Togden were therefore the grandparents of Aro Yeshé.

Jomo Pema ’ö-Zér was primarily a Dzogchen long-dé master – but she was also an accomplished phurba master. It is said that her phurba vibrated when she sang phurba mantra. She is always shown in wrathful demeanour with a phurba in her belt – and also in her left and right hands.

Khyungchen Aro Lingma described her mother—Jomo Pema ’ö-Zér—as an emanation of Tsogyel Tröllö, and said that no one could meet her gaze, even though she was never wrathful in terms of how she related with people.

Jomo Pema ’ö-Zér wears the Dzogchen blue chuba and is draped with the red, white, and blue shawl of the gö-kar chang-lo’i dé.

[See Aro Encyclopaedia]