It all started when our Yellow Gakyil, Titi (Gloriana Brenes), invited Namkhai Yeshi to help improve the acoustics of the Dzamling Gar Gönpa. All of a sudden, Titi informed us that Namkhai Yeshi had offered to give Teachings on February 13th and 14th, Valentine’s Day.
With this great news and only six weeks to go, people from all over the world came together to offer support and advice. Within a week, all the teams began forming with incredible team leaders, collaborators, and a project management team.
Despite being in the peak of the high season in Tenerife, everything unfolded smoothly, like a continuous lhundrub*, from organizing collaborations, painting and arranging Rinpoche’s house and its apartments, creating graphics, finding suppliers, or making agreements between ATIF and the Adeje City Hall for support. All was accomplished at an incredible speed, thanks to the hard work of so many people. Maintenance, Administration, Karma Yoga participants, Work Exchange, Gakyil, Gekö and former Gekö, everyone moved heaven and earth to have everything ready on time.
The Gar filled with smiles, countless hugs, and people overjoyed to return to Dzamling Gar, some after five years, some seven, and even longer for others.
With the Gar full of joy, Namkhai Yeshi and his wife Daria arrived and immediately began working on the acoustics. In collaboration with the Dzamling Gar Webcast Team, they spent hours conducting an acoustic site analysis for a future project and optimizing the stage, speakers, and equipment to ensure the best possible setup for the event.
Many of us at Dzamling Gar were deeply moved, having waited so long to finally receive Teachings in the Gönpa that Chögyal Namkhai Norbu worked so hard to build. It felt as though welcoming Namkhai Yeshi’s Dzogchen Teachings was the true inauguration of the Dzamling Gar Gönpa.
Finally, the 13th arrived, and Namkhai Yeshi offered an incredible two days of Dzogchen Teachings. In particular, on Valentine’s Day, we received the precious gift of singing the Song of the Vajra in one of the most beautiful and powerful ways many of us had ever experienced, guided by Namkhai Yeshi. We also engaged in a magnificent meditation, which he created, after a month of dedicated work.
Whether onsite or online, we could all feel that Namkhai Yeshi was at ease here. We were filled with joy and gratitude for his incredible generosity and kindness.
We offered translation in at least 12 languages, and created a dormitory area in the Inner Gönpa for more than 25 people who applied for it. As a result, we had approximately 3,999 registered participants, with around 380 attending onsite, and the rest online. Among them, 689 people had never attended a retreat with Chögyal Namkhai Norbu or Namkhai Yeshi before, including 84 onsite participants.
Beyond the extraordinary event, we received fantastic news: next year, on the same dates, and this time for more days, Namkhai Yeshi will give Teachings at Dzamling Gar again, expecting 2,000 attendees. Don’t miss the opportunity to be one of them, come to Dzamling Gar for Valentine’s, and receive a warm welcome to your Global Gar.
By Gisela Martinez
*self-perfected state, spontaneously present, infinite qualifications, infinite potentiality of manifestations, primordial potentiality.
Photos by Daniyal Ibragimov
