Santi maha Sangha Retreat with Jim Valby - September 5th. - 14th. 2008
Santi Maha Sangha instruction was created by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu many years ago in response to requests from students to have a standardized instruction on Dzogchen teaching and practice. You can take exams from Introductory to Level 5 if you wish. Rinpoche stresses that at the beginning there is more instruction than practice, but as you continue there is less instruction and more practice. It is by no means obligatory, but many people enjoy studying this way and it is a great way to get expert instruction on primary Dzogchen practices.
There is a text for the teaching entitled: The Precious Vase. Unfortunately it is not available at the moment as a new edition is being prepared by the Shang Shung Institute in Italy
Jim Valby is one of Rinpoche's main instructors and he teaches all over the world. Jim is also a Ph.D. Scholar of Tibetan language and texts. He works on these and teaches full-time and the Dzogchen Community supports him in this work. Consequently there will be a fee for the teaching (to be announced shortly). We try to keep it low to make it manageable for people. If you cannot afford the full amount we will work out something agreeable with you.
Jim Valby is an extremely popular teacher and we are very fortunate to have him come back and teach in Toronto for the second time. He is not only extremely learned, but also very funny and he makes the teaching and practice very accessible. Not to be missed!
Below you can see the schedule for the Retreat. It is worked out so that you can continue to work as usual on weekdays. At some point during the retreat we will do something fun and interesting with Jim.
Please email our Secretary Andy Wai or Vitaly Gritsenko, our webmaster if you are interested in attending the retreat.
