Singing is particularly powerful if practised in a group. Each person’s length of breath will be different, so new notes will be starting all the time. Sometimes the effect will be harmonious and sometimes discordant. Lack of harmony does not matter and is part of the experience of the exercise. When the sound is discordant, allow this to be interesting rather than experiencing it as unpleasant.
Relaxing into Meditation, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2010, ISBN: 978-1-898185-17-8, p22
In this video from February 2010, Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin and Ngakma Nor’dzin discuss the reality and benefit of silent sitting practice.
Transcript
Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin: What we would say for the sake of somebody who’s considering beginning meditation practice, is that silent setting is all about boredom and pain.
Ngakma Nor’dzin: – it’s not that bad! You make it sound worse than it is!
Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin: I think it’s worth giving people a non-governmental health warning that those images of people looking serene – these are inspirational indications of perhaps the resultant condition and it doesn’t always feel that way when you practise.
Sitting practice is coming face to face with the reality of our own condition and the irony of the fact that we think our minds are our own, and they should do what we want. We sit, and we may attempt to have no thought – and at that point we can discover that thought actually seems to have the nature of an addiction.The process of that practice leads us to understand that we’re actually quite keen on thinking and we’re not too keen to let go – and that in itself is interesting.
So we realise that there is something else happening – some deep-seated habit or need that is saying: ‘Think. Think about anything. Think about shopping. Think about going to Tesco in your pyjamas. Think about almost anything rather than not think’.
So rather than leave a practitioner with this difficulty, we can then engage in various methods that are there to enable us to come to an experiential understanding that the possibility is there that we can sit and not be addicted to thought. This leads to the possibility of spaciousness that will be there spontaneously in the rest of our lives. But silent sitting practice in a formal sense is fundamental to giving us the opportunity for that to happen.
The habitual state of being we discover in silent sitting is actually what’s there all the time underlying our actions – that we develop certain habit patterns and they’re always there. We find them in their raw sense when we attempt to sit, and through that process discover what is behind that.
We discover that we can sit comfortably without thought, and then that spaciousness appears within our lives and allows us to see our emotions almost from a different dimension, and certainly a dimension that includes a sense of humour. As soon as humour can arise then the situation explodes. We no longer take it seriously. We no longer entirely take ourselves seriously, and we can let go of things that previously we had been so dreadfully attached to.
The wonder I experienced as a child at the beauty of a spectacular sky, or the sensation of rain on my skin, or the sting of hail, may be lost as I plod, head down on my way to wherever. A cynic once described life as ‘one damn thing after another’ – and so it is when there is no appreciation. The warmth of melting into delightful appreciation of my loved one may fade if I take their love for granted and forget to fall in love with them every day. Love is a dance of communication and shared experience – its existence depends on each arising moment of appreciation.
Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro books worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 5 Infinite Impermanence, p117
Tonglen is a meditation practice that is connected to the breath. It is said to have been a secret practice of Atisha, practised only with his disciples. It begins with visualising a person, group, or situation where help is needed. On the in-breath all pain and dissatisfaction is received and absorbed. On the out-breath limitless benefit and help is given.
This is a practice of developing awakening intent – the wish to benefit others. The breath is a natural rhythm of being a human being – to be alive is to breathe. To use a fundamental requirement of life as a means of awakening is skilful practice. Tonglen engages this natural rhythm. Breathing in is receiving. Breathing out is giving.
Battlecry of Freedom by Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2019, ISBN 978-1-898185-46-8, Part II - the slogans, p59
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.
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
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
