becoming a wandering yogi?

[RikudouSennin]

all is not well
may have to leave where im staying in the next few weeks.

[Yudron]

all is not well
may have to leave where im staying in the next few weeks.

Well, if you come on up to Northern Cal. you are in a Dharma paradise, as we have discussed before.




But, the cost of living is high.

[Adamantine]

all is not well
may have to leave where im staying in the next few weeks.

Well, if you come on up to Northern Cal. you are in a Dharma paradise, as we have discussed before.




But, the cost of living is high.

Aren't there work study options available at Pema Osel Ling? Or rather, work for the blessing of being on the land and around the Lamas and yogis in exchange for room and board? I have some friends who've done it but don't know how open that arrangement is to 'strangers'.

[Yudron]

Depends on if there is housing available or not. There is a big staff right now. Definitely work giving them a call!

Its not all that far from the Central Valley!

[Adamantine]

Depends on if there is housing available or not. There is a big staff right now. Definitely work giving them a call!

Its not all that far from the Central Valley!

Cool!

Also RikudouSennin, in addition to this potential arrangement at Pema Osel Ling you should know about / check out the arrangement at this other place in Northern California established and run by Tarthang Tulku:

http://www.odiyan.org/volunteer.html

Volunteer

Live in a spiritual community of men and women dedicated to meaningful work introducing the symbols of Tibetan Buddhism to the West.

Learn new skills and share your knowledge with our community while living in a beautiful natural environment. Our way of life integrates creative and challenging work with a path of self-exploration that opens up the individual’s inner potential.

No special skills are required and no religious affiliation is necessary to participate at Odiyan. We ask for a six month commitment. We follow a healthy drug-free lifestyle and vegetarian diet.

Volunteering at Odiyan includes housing, meals
and a small living allowance.

Learn more and apply

[RikudouSennin]

Thanks!

This really made my day guys.

[RikudouSennin]

I am leaving this saturday from california and relocating to Alabama, to stay at a friends sanctuary. its a very nice place with alot of land in a forest enviroment

[Andrew108]

Wandering yogis wander after the contents of their thoughts. Find a place that has no spiritual atmosphere. Get a part-time job. Meditate. Support yourself. Support your practice. Support your insight.

[Stewart]

Wandering yogis wander after the contents of their thoughts. Find a place that has no spiritual atmosphere. Get a part-time job. Meditate. Support yourself. Support your practice. Support your insight.

Yes, very good Andrew, that sounds just like Milarepa and Shabkar... You know they wandered in sacred places as a support... And funnily enough, didn't take a part time job stacking shelves or car valeting.

More modern examples are KTGR, Nyoshul Khenpo and Mingyur Rinpoche who wandered/are wandering the sacred places of Milarepa and Guru Rinpoche.. Living very simply.... Without having to shift swap.

[byamspa]

Wandering yogis wander after the contents of their thoughts. Find a place that has no spiritual atmosphere. Get a part-time job. Meditate. Support yourself. Support your practice. Support your insight.

Yes, very good Andrew, that sounds just like Milarepa and Shabkar... You know they wandered in sacred places as a support... And funnily enough, didn't take a part time job stacking shelves or car valeting.

More modern examples are KTGR, Nyoshul Khenpo and Mingyur Rinpoche who wandered/are wandering the sacred places of Milarepa and Guru Rinpoche.. Living very simply.... Without having to shift swap.

Andrew has a point though, not all of us are in the position to take off and wander like that. We have responsibilities and like it or not, most of us feel obligated to care for our families and such.

Someone has to be there to support the wandering yogis and yoginis, someone has to clean the sacred spaces and do the bookkeeping. The true hermitage is the one created by one's body, speech, and mind. The true 'home' is refuge is in the three jewels. While outer supports of sacred spaces and temples are wonderful, it is possible to wander in the middle of wal-mart and know that it to is an expression of the dharmakaya inherently sacred and beautiful.

'In any company, happy, lineage son of the lotus born!' says the calling the lama from afar by HH Dudjom Rinpoche.

dat's my 2c.

[Stewart]

Wandering yogis wander after the contents of their thoughts. Find a place that has no spiritual atmosphere. Get a part-time job. Meditate. Support yourself. Support your practice. Support your insight.

Yes, very good Andrew, that sounds just like Milarepa and Shabkar... You know they wandered in sacred places as a support... And funnily enough, didn't take a part time job stacking shelves or car valeting.

More modern examples are KTGR, Nyoshul Khenpo and Mingyur Rinpoche who wandered/are wandering the sacred places of Milarepa and Guru Rinpoche.. Living very simply.... Without having to shift swap.

Andrew has a point though, not all of us are in the position to take off and wander like that. We have responsibilities and like it or not, most of us feel obligated to care for our families and such.

Someone has to be there to support the wandering yogis and yoginis, someone has to clean the sacred spaces and do the bookkeeping. The true hermitage is the one created by one's body, speech, and mind. The true 'home' is refuge is in the three jewels. While outer supports of sacred spaces and temples are wonderful, it is possible to wander in the middle of wal-mart and know that it to is an expression of the dharmakaya inherently sacred and beautiful.

'In any company, happy, lineage son of the lotus born!' says the calling the lama from afar by HH Dudjom Rinpoche.

dat's my 2c.

To be fair, I didn't think that was Andrew's point.

[byamspa]

To be fair, I didn't think that was Andrew's point.

Then what did you think it was? Elucidate a bit please.

[Stewart]

To be fair, I didn't think that was Andrew's point.

Then what did you think it was? Elucidate a bit please.

Well the first part:

Wandering yogis wander after the contents of their thoughts...

Is just nonsense. But there is a pattern of that, so no surprise there.

This part:

Find a place that has no spiritual atmosphere...

This isn't the example set by Yogis of the past, they went to places asscociated with great masters before them...Milarepa, Guru Rinpoche etc.

The last part:

Get a part-time job. Meditate. Support yourself. Support your practice. Support your insight.

Doesn't apply to wandering Yogis.

[byamspa]

Well the first part:

Wandering yogis wander after the contents of their thoughts...

Is just nonsense. But there is a pattern of that, so no surprise there.

I don't think that is nonsense. I took it to mean something like wandering thoughts are like thinking of meeting your friends after puja and how nice that will be instead of concentrating on the sadhana. In other words, a 'wandering yogi' can be sitting quite still and still 'wandering' in mind.

This part:

Find a place that has no spiritual atmosphere...

This isn't the example set by Yogis of the past, they went to places asscociated with great masters before them...Milarepa, Guru Rinpoche etc.

And i took it simply as: if one truly is a wandering yogi, the external circumstances do not matter so much. The places Guru Rinpoche etc made holy were perhaps somewhat ordinary before that. We can make our own sacred places. The 3 doors of body speech and mind are the perfect portable hermitage. Walmart can be made sacred in that view.

The last part:

Get a part-time job. Meditate. Support yourself. Support your practice. Support your insight.

Doesn't apply to wandering Yogis.

Not necessarily. If your karma is such that you have little support, you might have to get a part-time job in order to eat.

[Stewart]

Yeah....but that's not really a 'wandering yogi' is it? That's just being a drifter.

A wandering yogi is a serious practitioner who is seriously applying a spiritual practice(s) ie: Dzogchen/Mahamudra/Chod etc Someone who has given up all worldly responsibilities and commitments and left behind friends and family.

Sitting daydreaming is hardly in the same as seriously applying Dzogchen or Mahamudra is it? we can do that at home. So if you're in a Walmart pretending you are Milarepa, you've not wandered very far have you?

My own Guru left his large monastery and organization with the clothes on his back and nothing else, not even his spectacles. I couldn't do it, he is an exceptional master, and the idea of me doing it, despite the many instructions I have received from him, is just fantasy....a daydream (see above)

[byamspa]

Wandering yogi, hidden yogi, sleeping yogi, daydreaming yogi, monastic yogi, ngakpa yogi, serious yogi, nonsense yogi words words all words.

The five certainties do not require a specific external place and time, if they are present, they are present.

Sunya is the root of all and there is no specific set way to embark on the path in front of us. That we embark is the point.

This is all i meant.

So to drive to the root of this: What is a yogi? Having established that, then what is a yogi on the path? What is a wandering yogi on the path? What is the path?

i'm jabbering nonsense to you, aren't i? Nonsense is fun sometimes.

[Stewart]

...i'm jabbering nonsense to you, aren't i? Nonsense is fun sometimes.

Who are you trying to convince? Me or you?

[byamspa]

...i'm jabbering nonsense to you, aren't i? Nonsense is fun sometimes.

Who are you trying to convince? Me or you? Coversation over.

Party pooper

OTOH, what is a 'Coversation'? Covert realization? That could be fun.

[Stewart]

...i'm jabbering nonsense to you, aren't i? Nonsense is fun sometimes.

Who are you trying to convince? Me or you? Coversation over.

Party pooper

OTOH, what is a 'Coversation'? Covert realization? That could be fun.

Yeah my typo, edited it as you posted back.

I really don't mind a little nonsense, what I do mind is people talking in a pretentious and abstract way as if they have intergrated the View. It's dishonest.

[byamspa]

Yeah my typo, edited it as you posted back.

I really don't mind a little nonsense, what I do mind is people talking in a pretentious and abstract way as if they have intergrated the View. It's dishonest.

I'm not too crazy about absolute definitions, myself. Not without a lot of elucidation to back them up.

Take the term 'yogi'. Its loaded, and has about 150,000 interpretations. One could speak of 'yogi' meaning some guy in a speedo on the cover of Yoga Journal doing a downward-dog asana. It could also mean a chodpa in a charnal ground blowing on a thigh-bone trumpet. It could mean a weekend meditator participating in a workshop. It could mean a gal in Walmart whose view is so integrated she sees everything around her as Akanishta and everyone around her as Tara or Chenrezig. They are all 'yogis' in one sense or another.

Combine it with 'wandering' and/or hidden and the problem is just exacerbated to a ridiculous extreme. Then to slam the term wandering yogi into a category without defining it is just taking an unnecessary shortcut. It leads to something that sounds authoritative without any authority in my opinion.

Taking an ill-defined term and doing a comparison with it, such as 'wandering yogi' and 'drifter' is problematic at best.