The teaching retreat Ati Nazer (“The most important points on the View, Meditation, Behavior and Fruit“, Longsal, VII) given by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu was held at Merigar West from 29 October to 2 November 2021. In the morning we followed the six sessions of teachings given by the Master and in the afternoon some Santi Maha Sangha teachers gave explanations and led practice sessions.

In addition to the people present in the Merigar Gönpa, there was the possibility to follow all the sessions in webcast simultaneously, with more than 400 connections.

The retreat was particularly addressed to those people who recently received the transmission, but, in fact, it was widely followed by many practitioners from the Dzogchen Community, who participated with great interest.

For some years now the International Dzogchen Community has been offering retreats of the Master’s teachings in webcasts, which are very popular; in this case the special feature was the fact that the format adopted by the Master during his retreats (teachings in the morning and explanations in the afternoon), was used for all six days. At the same time, those present at Merigar and people connected from all over the world via webcast joined together to participate in the same event.

During the retreat, the living presence of the Teaching became evident to everyone, through immediate concrete experience, as if it were in fact transmitted again by the Master in the Gönpa at Merigar at the same time the broadcast of the video/audio recording took place. This direct experience has helped us understand in an essential way, once more, that the Master, his transmission and Teaching live beyond the limited confines of our relative consideration of space and time. There is nothing abstract or mystical in all of this. It is a fact and a gift that is always alive, an extraordinary possibility always at our disposal, which we can draw on in an inexhaustible way thanks to the Archive.

In light of this understanding, in the coming months, Merigar, in collaboration with other Gars, will organize the viewing of other retreats of the Master’s Dzogchen Teachings, considering this to be our priority and the main initiative that we would like to propose to everyone.

Fabio Risolo
Merigar West Blue Gakyil and Director