Mandarava and Tsalung Practices
It has been an intense 6-days for the participants at this retreat in Romania, born out of our Gar’s thirst for enlightened activity and Elio’s desire to meet Merigar East for the first time. Considering the time of the year, we were lucky to enjoy mostly warm days, with some dakinis even daring to plunge into the Black Sea waves for a short experience of bliss – if only there were an easy shortcut to developing inner heat!
There were not that many of us as we were hoping, but we were supported by our dedicated Bulgarian Vajra brothers and sisters who drove all the way from and to Sofia during the night. The Courage Prize goes to Sabra from Belgium, who travelled all the way to the unknown land of Romania in search of the thigles.
Last, but not least, the few Vajra kin that connected through webcast were a real pleasure to practice with and we hope to meet them in flesh next time.
A view of the Gönpa and outdoor Vajra Dance Mandalas
Also for me this retreat was a first: every morning we had a practice session from 6 to 8 and then between 19:30 and 8 o’clock the next day we would have a no-talking time, to deepen the experiences and also provide support for the dream practice. I can say I missed the usual MultiFun house evening parties, and this elongated my time perception of the whole retreat, but then every evening we enjoyed the silent interaction of the Vajra Dances on the mandala and this felt like the biggest blessing after so many hours of sitting, massaging the knees and trying different postures with the meditation belt (if only some practice stability could be realized!).
Now we are returning to our ordinary lives with amplified life force, capacity, fortune and good memories to share with those who couldn’t join us.
A view of the Black Sea coast near Merigar East
Thank you, Elio, for providing a practice-oriented retreat, for letting us discover our limitations as regards the quality and quantity of practice and for sharing your wisdom to inspire us and realize the value of the Mandarava terma Teaching.
Thanks to everybody for collaborating, for taking turns in cooking delicious vegetarian food for everybody, for being present.
Long life to Rinpoche and all of us on this boat!
Alexandru Anton for Merigar East Gakyil
