A Retreat with Igor Berkhin
Spring in Paris is the most beautiful season, and this year was no exception despite the ongoing strike. Igor Berkhin had come to the city to continue teaching the Dzogchen Semdé, focusing on the root text “All Creating King” (Tib. Kunjed Gyalpo). Through simple language and examples, he helped practitioners gain a profound understanding of Semdé.
Mai expressed her appreciation of this retreat:
The retreat with Igor Berkhin focused on the Absence of View, Meditation, and Behavior in Dzogchen, which was explained through the “12 Small Tantras” and the “All Creating King”, a root tantra of Dzogchen. These teachings aim to help practitioners develop a clear view and understanding of Dzogchen and how to integrate it into our daily lives. In addition, Igor helped us focus on the inner self with simple and bare instructions.
We learned particular and applicable practices such as : How to do the guru yoga of the A in a non-dualistic way. Integrate sound, shape, and awareness of sound in the symbol of our potentiality, integrate our body, voice, and mind into the symbol. The symbol of white A is showing itself. Feel the presence of clarity in a relaxed way.
Also, how to clarify the meaning of relaxing in the Dzogchen way. Discovering the presence of clarity, sound, and light continues by itself, from where to look for thoughts, where, with what to look, and finding the awareness which knows.
And mostly to apply the presence to Anuyoga practices with the example of Mandarava. Overall, the retreat was an excellent opportunity to deepen our understanding of Dzogchen and to develop our meditation practice.
