Shang Shung Publications
A few years ago, I remember we were in the Mandala Room at Merigar, before this Covid story changed things and made everything more difficult and, chatting at the end of the practice with Laura Evangelisti and Igor Legati, we thought how great and useful it would be to be able to re-read and study the Teachings that Chögyal Namkhai Norbu had given over the years in the context of the trainings of the Santi Maha Sangha, the Teacher’s Training, and so on.
Igor told us that some material had already been gathered that needed to be reviewed and organized, but that there was already an excellent base. This material covered all the teachings the Master had given for the Training for the various levels of the Santi Maha Sangha, for the Training for teachers of the Santi Maha Sangha, Yantra Yoga and Dance of the Vajra, of the two Dagther, and on all the occasions during which Rinpoche had said significant things for practitioners who were striving to become teachers. There were articles already published in the Mirror, and transcripts edited by several generous practitioners, all in English, and a large number of documents.
I was very enthusiastic about this opportunity and offered to try to look at all this material, remove any duplicates, sort it in chronological order, and evaluate with Igor how to proceed.
Thus began the adventure, always very interesting and useful for me, when I work on the writings of the Master or in any case concerning the Teachings of the Master. Working in this way is equivalent to reading and rereading dozens of times, reflecting, reasoning and going back over some passages again and again, discussing with the editor-in-chief, Igor, sometimes asking for advice from expert practitioners, in short, for me there is no better way to study, which otherwise would not be particularly easy for me.
In this way I develop a truly intimate relationship with the text. In particular in this case I had participated in several of the Teachings I was working on, including the two Daghter, meetings during which the Master wanted precisely to check and verify that the teachers were correctly oriented in exercising their function of transmitting the Teachings of the Master.
I believe this collection is truly extraordinary. What the Master says is not in general very different from what he communicated in his formal teachings, but the accents and nuances due to the fact that he was addressing a different audience, that of his aspiring teacher students, puts everything in a slightly different light.
It is obvious that the focus is more on teaching methods, on advice on how a teacher should approach his/her students, on the dangers that the ego, in the form of the demon of complacency, manifests as obstacles to transmission.
I have heard of long discussions about what and how to convey what the Master has given us. I must say that the Master has clearly stated this in so many circumstances, and reading this collection it appears very clearly.
Rinpoche told us everything an infinite number of times, it is just that we were often not able to truly listen and understand.
Now that the Master is no longer here physically, I think it is important to re-read his Teachings, to meditate on them calmly, without getting frantic, and this book offers us an incredible opportunity to do this.
It is wonderful and comforting to see how many practitioners have offered their karma yoga in the transcription, revision, translation and compilation of the teachings of the Master, and how many have then worked to produce the text that we can now take in hand and consult.
It is a book that can be read in many ways; from the beginning, reading some of its sections based on a particular interest, but also opening it at random every day and seeing what it offers us, a kind of oracle. And it is not only useful and interesting for teachers but for all practitioners, to understand what transmission is, what its value is, and how the teacher took care to preserve it.
It is truly valuable.
We are very fortunate!
Sergio Quaranta
