Jomo Chhi’mèd Pema

Jomo Chhi’mèd Pema

Born on 3rd February, Jomo Chhi’mèd Pema was mainly regarded as an eccentric goat herder with powers of healing and weather prediction. In actuality, she was a realised yogini. a powerful Lama who could converse with the local Mountain Protectress and gave local people advice about farming in terms of the times to sew and reap. She gave people life advice but was not known as a teacher. Secretly, she was a Dzogchen Long-dé master whose disciples visited her at night to receive instructions. Jomo Chhi’mèd Pema had a wealth of knowledge concerning rocks and stones and had her own medical gTérma which employed the diagnosis of cranial echoes produced by tapping certain special pebbles.

[See Aro Encyclopaedia]

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]

Weekend event at Aro Ling Cardiff Buddhist Centre – January newsletter 2015

The newsletter for January is going out a little earlier in the month than usual as everything winds down for the Christmas and New Year holidays. Aro Ling Cardiff will be open as usual up to and including Friday 19th December and then closed until the new year. The first event of 2015 will be our regular first-Saturday-of-the-month meditation introduction: Discovering the Spaciousness of Mind, Saturday 3rd January 2015, 10 – 12. The regular events will roll on as usual from then (see below).

Aro Ling Cardiff is offering something new in January. Rather than a five week course, there will be a five session weekend event. Living, Dreaming, Dying will run from Friday evening, 16th January to Sunday lunchtime, 18th January. Attend one session, several sessions, or all five – the choice is yours.

Living, Dreaming, Dying

– a weekend retreat: January 16 – 18, 2015

£6 a session or £25 for the whole weekend – attend one, several or all sessions

Session 1:  Friday January 16th      19:00 – 20:30   Dream Yoga
– learn the practice of dream yoga and how to make sleep-time useful
Session 2:  Saturday January 17th  10:00 – 12:00   Living and Dying Every Day
– death and impermanence as the natural ebb and flow of existence
Session 3:  Saturday January 17th  14:00 – 16:00   Changing Mind Moments
– the realms of existence through which we move because of our emotional responses
Session 4:  Saturday January 17th  18:00 – 20:00   Tantric Empowerment
– transmission of the practice of Yeshé Tsogyel, the female tantric Buddha
Session 5:  Sunday January 18th    10:00 – 12:00   Death & Birth of Each Moment
- discovering the continuity of discontinuity through the nine bardos of the Aro Lineage
 
Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin will lead this weekend of teachings. They
will explore how we can we live with honour and integrity, ensuring that we are
always existing as open-hearted human beings, rather than falling into other
less human states of mind. Learn the practice of dream yoga and discover how
dream consciousness differs from waking consciousness, and how we can make this
time valuable rather than a period of unconsciousness. Discover living and
dying, permanence and impermanence, as a natural and continual flow throughout
our lives, rather than fearing death as a single future definitive event.

On Saturday evening, Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin will give empowerment
into the practice of Yeshé Tsogyel. She is the female tantric Buddha from whom
the Aro gTér Lineage originates, and was the Tibetan consort of Padmasambhava.

There are many delightful places to eat and drink in Whitchurch village. Book in advance to be included in numbers for lunch and dinner on Saturday 17th.

Regular events at Aro Ling Buddhist Centre in Cardiff will continue until Friday 19th December 2014, and then restart on Saturday 3rd January:
Discovering the Spaciousness of Mind – first Saturday of each month, 10 – 12, £5

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

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

 Seasons Greetings 

 and a 

Happy New Year!

Distance Learning from Aro Ling Buddhist Centre in Cardiff

Aro Ling Cardiff has received a lot of interest in their amulet-weaving workshops, but not everyone is able to get to the centre. Ngakma Nor’dzin is therefore devising a distance-learning programme for this practice.

The first candidate lives in Singapore.

We will let you know when the programme is ready.

Contact us if you are interested in learning how to create an amulet, at aro.ling.cardiff@gmail.com and we will add you to our mailing list. There will be further workshops scheduled in 2015. Look out for them on the programme at aro-ling.org/cardiff.

The Sound of Silence - Soundcloud for Aro Ling Cardiff

At Aro Ling Buddhist Centre we are often asked for supportive material to help people with their practice, and we like to be as helpful as possible. To this end we have created a stream on Soundcloud : https://soundcloud.com/aro-ling-cardiff.

There are three files on Soundcloud at the moment to aid meditation practice: 10 minutes, 15 minutes and 20 minutes of silence with a bell at the end to signal the end of the meditation session. It can be distracting to be clock-watching while we are meditating, but sometimes we have limited time, so now you can run one of these files for your chosen length of practice and relax, knowing that a bell will sound at the end of the session.  Let us know if you would like longer sessions and we will be happy to make the files for you.

It is possible to follow Aro Ling Cardiff at Soundcloud, and there is an app for mobiles that can be downloaded, so that you can always have your timed silence with you for a meditation session.

These sound files are also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/arolingcardiff