From April 19 – 21 a Dzogchen retreat on the Essence of Vajrayana practice was held at Kunkyabling, Prague, Czech Republic. The topic was taught by experienced Santi Maha Sangha teacher Igor Berkhin. The retreat was attended by more than 35 Dzogchen practitioners, most of them from the Czech Republic, but also some from Poland, Germany and the UK.
I’d like to share my personal experience. I was interested in this retreat especially because I wanted to improve the effectiveness of my Vajrayana practice. Before the retreat it was challenging for me to continuously be in rigpa during tantric practices and I was not clear how to develop this skill. This is why I very much appreciated the support which Igor gave me and other practitioners.
We learned step by step firstly how to be in the non-separability of emptiness and clarity, then how to have an authentic feeling of being a deity and, on the basis of this, how to relax in rigpa. And finally how to maintain the state of transformation with mantra and mudra.
During every session we also listened to recordings of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu’s lung transmission. Older practitioners helped new practitioners to receive this transmission by their presence. There was a part when Igor led a workshop during the retreat. We worked together in groups of 6 people and shared our experiences from the practice and perceiving each other as Vajrasattva.
The three most important impressions from this retreat for me were relaxing in rigpa while being in the dimension of a deity, moments of instant presence while chanting mantra when I was practicing at home after the retreat and a feeling of closeness with the sangha.
Thank you very much, Igor.
Thank you to the Dzogchen community for organizing this retreat.
And of course a big thank you to our Master.
Tomas Nutil
