Date: November 15th, 2019.
Time: 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
Date: Friday, November 15, 2019
Time: 7:00pm - 8:30pm (ET)
Location: Tsegyalgar East Gönpa, 18 Schoolhouse Road, Conway, MA or via Zoom videoconference
Please RSVP if you plan on attending in-person or to request the videoconference link: RSVP>>
We will be sending out the videoconference link one day prior to the event.
Suggested Donation $10 Donate Online>>
For questions please contact: bluegakyil@tsegyalgar.org
Presence & Awareness: Presence is not about reaching out with body, speech, and mind and actively trying to modify something. If we want to be a good athlete we need to practice and build up our condition etc. Contrary to this kind of scheme of self improvement, presence is about gentle observation with a very light fingertip pressure. Although we can find step by step approaches to self improvement and becoming a good athlete, presence is something so natural that wrapping it up in a regimen of calculated methods may just be minds way of disguising our natural capacity.
This vital talk will address the imperative of presence and awareness in regard to the spiritual path as well as our secular endeavors.
Steven Landsberg: In 1967 at the age of 19 Steven left the United States for India to pursue studies in the music and spiritual traditions of India and Sanskrit language. Through a series of fortunate circumstances, he was able to meet the 16th Karmapa in Sarnath and travel to Darjeeling in the north eastern part of India. It was there that he met Kangyur Rinpoche and Tulku Pema Wangyal and with their encouragement he started to do the preliminary practices associated with the nondro, learn the basics of Tibetan language and translate some sadhana practices. He remained in India for about ten years doing practice and developing his knowledge of Indian music.
In 1982, he attended his first retreat with Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche and began practicing under his guidance. In 2007 he moved to Margarita and served for five years on the gakyil at Tashigar Norte and assisted with the editing of several Longsal texts.
He is a fourth level Santi Maha Sangha student and an SMS base level instructor and currently serves as the president of the International Gakyil of the Dzogchen Community. For the last 10 years he has traveled in South America, the United States, and Europe giving courses on various aspects of Santi Maha Sangha, with particular emphasis on Chöd and the Guruyoga
Steven performed many music concerts in India and the United States on both the sitar and surbahar. He produced two of his own CDs: “Windows to the Heart”and “Night and Beyond” and continues to this day to play both instruments.