-Rangrig Yeshe Dorjee, BA from Bhutan

The nine days fall seminar led by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche was truly an amazing one. We had in attendance monastics, scholars, students and lay practitioners from all over the world. It was my first-time attending Rinpoche’s teaching in person and I must say it was definitely a truly unique experience. Within just a span of few days, Rinpoche articulately explained the essence of all the Three Turnings of Wheel of Dharma. Rinpoche mainly focused on the Four Seals which are the hall mark of Buddhism and he explained it in such simple yet profound ways that it had deep lasting impression on me. He mentioned that what we were studying ‘upstairs’ in the classrooms, the monks and lay practitioners were actually putting them into practice, and I could not agree with him more. As students and scholars driving into the Buddhist realm intellectually, we often find ourselves so engrossed in analyzing and rationalizing everything that we leave very limited time and space for actual practice. Rinpoche reminded us that mere intellectual knowledge of the Buddha’s wisdom is never sufficient if one really wishes to become a true follower of the Buddha. 

We ended the seminar with the teaching on Padmasambhava’s Refined Essence of Oral Instructions to Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal which was personally for me the most inspiring and the highlight of the seminar. This particular teaching revealed the very essence of the path, and I cannot express how grateful I am to Rinpoche for laying out the path for this life and beyond.