Nyungne in Sakya

[kirtu]

I asked a monastic recently about Nyungne in Sakya - whether there was a Nyungne sadhana specific to the Sakya tradition. They didn't know for sure. However they related a story about HE Deshung Rinpoche being asked to lead a Nyungne. He didn't want to as he was concerned about the participants not being able to complete the practice. His students continued and he relented. However in fact a person became faint during the practice and had to leave the retreat.

I don't know when this incident took place but it was sometime before 1987. My response to this was that we weren't living in the 60's, 70's, 80's or even 90's anymore. People are in varying places but Westerners are engaging in serious practice to the best of their ability.

While nyungne has been increasingly practiced in Kagyu and Nyingma centers, I have never seen nyungne offered in Sakya centers. Hopefully this will change in the near future.

Kirt

[Mr. G]

I would definitely love to participate in one! This would be a great thing to see if Sakya centers take this up.

[kirtu]

I would definitely love to participate in one! This would be a great thing to see if Sakya centers take this up.

A few years ago Moke Mokotoff told me that he felt that teachers in the beginning of the Tibetan transmission to the West tested their students in a way like the 25 disciples of Padmasambhava. When he said this, I said that that level of testing would result in failure in the West because Westerners would not have been aware of the seriousness of the situation until much later in their spiritual path. In the past, apparently lots of people took monk vows but couldn't follow them and gave the vows back (or just disappeared). So I can see that some very traditional teachers would have a degree of skepticism and in general Sakya teachers are very conservative. The other issue is that teachers have their own personal kind of charisma and by engaging in practice can further bless the students into serious practice. I deeply regret not doing nyungne until after HH Penor Rinpoche left.

So it may be helpful to ask the various centers to consider nyungne for their schedule.

Kirt