From Friday, September 26th through Sunday, September 28th, 2025, the International Dzogchen Community of Merigar West in Arcidosso, Tuscany, Italy, honored Chögyal Namkhai Norbu by commemorating the seventh anniversary since the Master left this life on earth.
The full program included the teaching “Places of the Soul” given by Namkhai Yeshi on Saturday, September 27, 2025. For that morning teaching the Gönpa of Merigar seemed to be a homecoming, as it was filled with around 300 practitioners hugging and greeting each other, some after several years of absence. It was lovely to get a chance to greet Rosa Namkhai, who was in attendance, along with the Merigar West Gakyil and some authorized instructors. In addition to the students who attended in person—from primarily Italy, but also Switzerland, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uruguay, and elsewhere—there were also 1,450 connections over zoom, and at least 3,516 unique viewers who attended the teaching over webcast (reported as of early Sunday morning while webcast attendance figures were still coming in).
Gakyil members Kamala Eagleton and Kirian Regan welcomed Namkhai Yeshi in both Italian and English, and Cristiana De Falco, a longtime practitioner who started as one of Rinpoche’s original translation students at the university in Naples, proved her prowess yet again in providing translation into Italian. The zoom attendees also had the opportunity to follow the teaching in several languages, including Italian, Chinese, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Ukrainian. During the generous teaching Namkhai Yeshi both explained Transmission and gave Direct Introduction. At the end he indicated that he was only able to teach half (or maybe even less than half) of what he had prepared and maybe he would have a chance to teach the other half in the future. After the teaching Vajra brothers and sisters then met again for lunch in the Yellow House.
In addition to this fortunate teaching, attendees were treated by Merigar West to many opportunities to practice together and honor the treasure that Chögyal Namkhai Norbu gave us. Guruyoga of the White A practices were held on both Friday, September 26th, and Sunday, September 28th. As part of an ongoing “Talks in the Library” series artist Giorgio Dallorto gave an illustrated presentation entitled, “Twenty-One Faces of Compassion: A Journey Through the Iconography of the 21 Taras,” which was moved to the Gönpa from the library due to overwhelming demand. Translator and authorized instructor Adriano Clemente led a Gönpa full of practitioners in a Ganapuja with the Marme Monlam (Invocation of the Lamp during which we reaffirm our Dzogchen commitments), on Sunday, September 28. A Shitro practice was held on Sunday afternoon for all of those who have passed, and in honor of the one year anniversary of the passing of Nina Robinson. Vajra Dances were held not just once a day but twice a day, on both Saturday and Sunday, and the Khaita dancers gave a public Khaita Joyful Dance presentation on Sunday afternoon in the local community of Montegiovi.
It was incalculably precious to have the chance to honor Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and receive the teaching from Namkhai Yeshi. We thank Rosa Namkhai, Namkhai Yeshi, and the Merigar West and webcast teams for their tireless work on our behalf.
A. Caroline Hotaling
September 28, 2025
