Teachings with Ngakpa Hungchen Chenaktsang in Estonia, France and Spain.

During nine days in November our Estonian students had the luck to participate in the teachings of ngakpa Hungchen Chenaktsang who came directly from Tibet. This course was meant mainly for the students of Dr Nida and so it was about spiritual healing and of course about spiritual development as well. As Hungchen said we were his first Western students so probably this was an experience for him too. For example he had to explain to us many basic things about Buddhism and at the same time he told us that he is giving us very special secret teachings that even in Tibet not everybody can get.

Many students got the understanding of strong connection or interdependence between Tibetan medicine and Buddhism that they never thought about before. For many there came the question about the necessity to take refuge in order to follow more deeply the spiritual path. Ngakpa Hungchen was a great inspiration for that. Combining the teachings of Dr Nida and Hungchen widened the understanding as a whole and made our potential healing methods more rich and powerful. Everybody who had the chance and good karma to attend got a very strong inner experience and many things to reflect upon later. We also got many homework in the form of retreats to put those teachings into practice and to integrate our everyday life routine and spirituality. To make spiritual practice a part of our daily life.

We are all very grateful to Dr Nida for providing us the opportunity to listen to those precious teachings that you can’t weigh with gold. And we all hope we can invite ngakpa Hungchen to Estonia again in the future.

Anu Rootalu
TTM coordinator in Estonia

For 14 days we were lucky to welcome Ngakpa Hungchen-la in Menla Ling Paris.
We started with the fundamental teachings of Refuge and Boddhicitta, deepening our understanding of these 2 practices. During these first 4 days, Hungchen-la presented us with some very useful tools for taking Refuge and raising Boddhicitta, so that they were not just empty words, but true experiences. We then continued with Vajrasattva practice for 2 days, focussing on a clear and precise visualisation ... with a little help from modern technology! On the sunday, we had one day for the 8 Yogas of Behaviour which is a very secret and specific teaching. We could call it « Mindfulness »... and to describe it a little more: it is a practice for transforming your daily actions like eating and sleeping etc. into rituals and offerings. A most precious teaching that many of us felt overwhelmed by. It opened up infinite possibilities of integrating rituals and practices into our daily life of laypeople.

Then, we entered the practice of Dorje Gotrab, the Vajra Shield (or Diamond Armour). For practicing Dorje Gotrab, it is fundamental that one understands Refuge and Boddhicitta. Dorje Gotrab has a purifying action as powerful as the Vajrasattva practice, and as wrathful as the Dorje Drölo or Guru Drakpo practices.

So it is like an extremely powerful tool that needs careful handling! Before receiving it, we need to be prepared...Therefore, the previous week of teachings was extremely necessary and beneficial.

After these 5 days of Dorje Gotrab...some of us were still hungry, Hungchen-la still had some more treasures to offer! It was the Black Garuda practice.
For this practice, we repeated Refuge and Boddhicitta for the newcomers, as these 2 practices seemed too simple and easy for some and are often left aside ... But on the contrary, without a deep understanding of these 2 aspects of the Buddhist philosophy, one cannot practice successfully.

On the last 2 days, we were introduced to some of the Actions of Padmasambhava.

So for those who could stay for the 14 days of teachings, we have about 2 years worth of retreats, if we want to complete everything and thus to express our gratitude to our teacher Ngakpa Hungchen.

Gratitude, we also send to Dr Nida who invited Hungchen-la to teach in Europe. We were so lucky and happy to receive these teachings so precious that most of Tibetan practitioners don't get so easily.
Dr Nida and Hungchen-la belonged to the same buddhist school and both are holders of the Yuthok Nyingthik tradition. We, students of TTM, can only benefit from studying with both of them. Each teaching is helping us to deepen our understanding of Tibetan Medicine and Tibetan culture.

I am deeply grateful to these great masters. We hope to invite Ngakpa Hungchen in Menla Ling Paris regularly.

Immeasurable Equanimity, immeasurable Love, immeasurable Compassion and Joy.

Elise Mandine , Coordinator for IATTM in France
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I am very happy that I could attend Hungchen's teachings. He planted a seed inside me that I must now cultivate with wisdom and Boddhicitta. It was also an immense joy to welcome him in Spain for the Dorje Gotrab teaching and we hope that he will be back very soon.

Isis Munoz, Coordinator for IATTM in Spain

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