Tue, 24 Aug 2010
Nairatmya Retreat
I spent last week at the retreat Chetsang Rinpoche held in Frederick, Maryland. Unless you are Drikung Kagyu you probably don't know who Chetsang Rinpoche is. He's one of two head lamas of the Drikung Kagyu. If you don't know the Drikung Kagyu, it's a subschool of one of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism and there's a history of the Drikung at the link. The other head lama is still in Tibet. Chetsang Rinpoche leads a monastery in Dehru Dun, India that focuses on training young lamas. During the retreat Chetsang Rinpoche gave the empowerment and taught how to practice the sadhana of Nairatmya. She is the consort of Hevajra, who is one of the main tantric deities in Highest Yoga Tantra (HYT). Since it was a HYT empowerment, it was very elaborate and took two days to perform. After the empowernent, Chetsang Rinpoche taught a short daily sadhana for Nairatmya and one of the khenpos (teachers) from his monastery taught on the meaning of the samaya vows (tantric commitments). I thought that explanation was very good, the most meaningful part of the retreat for me. All the teaching and practice was done very nicely and properly. The only thing I wish was done differently is that I would have liked more time to practice the sadhana. But there wasn't enough room in the schedule for that.
The retreat was held at Episcopalian center instead of the Tibetan Meditation Center, which would not have been able to handle the large number of people who came. It was a very nice place for the retreat. They served us a vegetarian lunch and the facilities were comfortable, which was nice, because it allowed us to concentrate on the retreat rather than our personal discomforts. I think everyone enjoyed it, except maybe the people who had to staff the retreat, who were overwhelmed at times with the large number of people they had to handle. You should read Kirby Moore's blog for the account of one of the staffers. The retreat drew long time committed Drikung practitioners from all over the country as well as curious beginners from the area. During the retreat I floated along on a cloud of bliss and peace. I had the same feeling with Chetsang Rinpoche as when I'm with Garchen Rinpoche. That's over now, of course, I'm back at work!
Nairatmya is not that well known a figure in the Tibetan pantheon. One of the reasons why Chetsang Rinpoche was teaching the sadhana was to prevent her practice from falling into oblivion. But there is one well known story about her in the life of Virupa, the Indian founder of the Sakya lineage. Virupa practiced tantra devotedly in his monastery for many years, but became disappointed in the lack of results. He decided to abandon his tantric practice and threw his mala down the outhouse. That night Nairatmya appeared to him in a dream and told him that he was on the verge of achieving enlightenment. So he retrieved his mala from the outhouse and continued his practice and soon achieved enlightenment. When the other monks at the monastery discovered he was breaking his monastic vows through his tantric practice, he was expelled, he took the name Virupa (Wicked One), and practiced as a siddha. So there is a tradition of Hevajra / Nairatmya that comes the Sakya school as well as the tradition that comes through the Kagyu.
