Namkhai Norbu Tibetan Scholar

When I went to my master Changchub Dorje, I was educated up to the hilt in the intellectual sense. My mind was filled with everything I'd learned in the monastic colleges. I thought that to receive transmission of the teachngs, elaborate ritual initiations were essential and I asked Changchub Dorje to give me a certain initiation. I asked him every day for days and days, but he always refused.

...Finally, I insisted so much that he at last agreed ...(Then Norbu proceeds to tell this very funny story of his teacher trying to learn all the ritual and offer him the empowerment - then goes on to say...

After the meal the master gave me a real explanation of the true meaning of initiation and transmission, and I realized that despite all the formal initiations I had received at my college, I had never understood or entered into the true meaning of them.

Then, without interruption, for about three or four hours, Changchub Dorje gave me a real explanation of Dzogchen, not teaching me in an intellectural style, but talking to me in a very straightforward and relaxed, friendly, conversational way. Despite all my education, this was the firsttime a master had really made such a direct attempt to get me to understand something. What he said, and the way that he said it, was exactly like a tantra of Dzogche, spoken spontaneously, continuously aloud, and I knew that even a very learned scholar would not be able to speak like that. Changchub Dorje was speaking from clarity and not just from an intellectual understanding."

From The Crystal and the Way of Light

Tibetan Buddhism

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The International Shang Shung Institute sponsored, along with the American Tibetan Medical Association (ATMA) and the Asian Languages and Civilizations Department at Amherst College, the first International Shang Shung Institute symposium in the USA.

The conference opened with a scintillating keynote address by Choegyal Namkhai Norbu, the founder of the Institute, on Friday the thirteenth; on the following two days, we heard Tibetan doctors trained in various parts of Tibet and India and currently residing in the USA speak about the theory behind Tibetan medicine, about its history, and about some
very interesting clinical studies.

It was wonderful for us to have in the audience Luigi Ottaviani, the director of the International Shang Shung Institute, as well as the amazing students of the Shang Shung Institute School of Tibetan Medicine and many interested participants, from doctors to health workers, from scholars to graduate students. We hope that we will soon be able to hold more events of this kind, in collaboration with the wonderful board of ATMA as well as Amherst college and other universities in the Pioneer Valley -- and wherever else we will find interested partners.

The Board would like to take now the opportunity to thank the people who worked together to make this great event possible: first of all all the students of the School of Tibetan Medicine, who worked incredibly hard to make this event happen; Amherst College, for providing an ideal setting (and lots of refreshments!); the board of ATMA and all the Tibetan doctors who found the time to come and join us and share with us their wisdom and their lives; Doctor Phuntsog Wangmo for her inspired and inspiring leadership; the Tsegyalgar East Gakyil for their help and assistance; and all the people who came to listen and participate. We would also like to thank all the previous Shang Shung USA board members: they prepared the ground over the past years with their commitment and determination making this conference possible, and we want to thank them from the bottom of our hearts.

Last but not (and never) least, we want to thank Choegyal Namkhai Norbu. His talk was wonderful, inspiring, funny and profound at the same time. Even more importantly, without his wisdom and vision, we would have never been able to meet and learn so much from the precious Tibetan cultural heritage and from each other.

We will look forward to welcoming you all, again and again, among us, for many more of these wonderful initiatives.

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