在靈感中翻譯佛法，在業力下努力微笑

Dharma Gar - North America - Siddhartha's Intent

http://www.siddharthasintent. org/2009/09/dharma-gar-north- america.html

About Dharma Gar | Dharma Gar - North America

http://dharmagarnorthamerica. org/

About Dharma Gar

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche has established Dharma Gar in the tradition of Dharma Encampments in Eastern Tibet, where students come to hear teachings and receive abhishekas and practice based on these. Our "camp" is the via Internet connection and after we hear the teachings and practice for ten years, we "fold up our tents" and disperse without attachment to an establishment.

“Gar” is a Tibetan word that means “camp”. There were many great lamas in Tibet who really encouraged this tradition of setting up a Gar, like Khampa Gar of Khamtrul Rinpoche and Adzom Gar of Adzom Drukpa Rinpoche. In Tibet as it used to be, people would pitch tents – the disciples, practitioners, yogis, yoginis, monks, nuns, and lamas would also have a tent, and they’d camp somewhere, usually during spring and summer. And during these months, the lamas would teach on various topics such as ngöndro, or they would give abhishekas, and people would practice for a period of time. Then, at any time, they’d fold down all the tents and move on, anywhere.”

“Many great lamas of the past tried to introduce the Gar concept. After all, your main aim is to practice Dharma, not to construct or establish something. I don’t know how possible this is in the modern world, but I’m sort of trying to keep this tradition, with this program of Dharma Gar. We don’t have a physical place like a temple or something like that, but we’ll be connected, mainly through the Internet, and the teachings can go on.”

“We are doing this not only to avoid doing things that are not ultimately essential for the practice of dharma, but also to really foster the consistency of Dharma practice. For that, we need to have some kind of platform, rules or discipline. Basically the 2 hours’ practice each day is really a form of discipline. It’s basically a method that you’re encouraged to follow.” – Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

The boundary or commitment for Dharma Gar is to practice two hours every day for ten years. This provides a strong and necessary foundation of a consistent daily practice that we need to nurture in our modern world of distractions and commitments.

"Qualities like awareness, mindfulness, love, wisdom, and compassion have to be nurtured and maintained continuously, from the time that you have discovered them, until you have achieved whatever result you’re trying to achieve. But this is difficult, as there are so many challenges. So in order to maintain wisdom, compassion, devotion, renunciation mind and all that, some consistency in meditation practice is necessary, especially for beginners like us." – Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

Rinpoche's vision for Dharma Gar is to cover the curriculum of a traditional three-and-a-half-year retreat over 10 years.

"The idea is that we will take the entire curriculum that people generally practice in a traditional 3-year and 3-month retreat, and we’ll divide it into 10 years. People will practice for 2 hours every day, so that after 10 years, they will have completed ngöndro, guru practice, deva or deity practice, dakini practice and probably other practices like mahasandhi, dzogpachenpo, mahamudra and so on. I am also thinking to incorporate the practice of the Eight Chariots." – Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche