Greetings TMY Community!
Recently, I consulted my trusted master astrologers to gain advice on the best way to teach and the best direction for TMY to benefit the most students before I die. Looks like we will ramp up the volume of teachings and retreats available in-person and online over the next 8 years.
All our lives flow in and as cycles of time and space. We can serve best when we are working in harmony with the greater cycles of nature. I want to share with the community my next two major life cycles, and what these cycles hold for the student body and TMY.
We have a story in our tradition that the Root Guru of the Kaula Tantra - Macchanda Nātha (Matsyendra Nātha in Sanskrit) –was a fisherman by trade before becoming the first of the 84 Mahāsiddhas. It is said that he would cast his magical net out far and wide in order to catch those disciples fated to carry on the Kaula Tantra tradition. Following our great master’s lead, I will do the same during the next 8 years, teaching at our TMY centers, leading retreats, and travelling to support the opening of new centers. All this in order to spread and preserve the TMY system and to find the future Ācāryas and Heart-Students who will form the core. If you would like to get more involved in the Path of TMY and would like to ask more specific questions about that, please join us for an open question and answer session on zoom – Saturday December 10th, at 11:00am Costa Rica time! Register below to receive the zoom link!
KEY POINTS BELOW
MORE TEACHINGS
Over the next 8 years I will lead many more teachings, practice retreats, and pilgrimages than usual per year. This applies to the In-Person Programs as well as the Online Programs.
There will be programs in the 5 Ways and the Auxiliary Cycles each year (see the section “Study & Practice” at www.trikapath.com), as well as special “one-off” topics.
The expanded schedule of yearly teachings will be 2-4 programs in Brasil, 2-3 programs in France, 2-3 programs in Maine, and 5-7 programs in Costa Rica.
For the next 5-6 years Sahajadakinī and I will reside in Costa Rica 8-10 months a year, and travel out to teach 2-4 months in each of those years.
By about 2028, we will most likely be in constant motion between 2-3 of the TMY centers offering programs to the community of practitioners and helping the Ācāryas-in-Training based at those centers.
By 2030 I will semi-retire from teaching the general student body and focus on retreat practice, writing and further training of the Ācāryas and a handful of Heart-Students.
NEW TMY CENTERS
New TMY centers have been started in France and Brazil. The Maine retreat center will most likely be under development for another 2-3 years before it is ready to host events. After these we plan a center in northern Italy as well.
HEART- STUDENTS
I will be looking for “Heart-Students”.
These are students who have a deep karmic connection with TMY View, Practice, and most importantly with the teacher.
In order to create the auspicious circumstances to increase the chances of finding Heart-Students I will greatly increase my teaching schedule from now until December of 2030. I will teach in Costa Rica and the developing centers in Europe, South America and the United States..
SEEKING ĀCĀRYAS
Ācāryas are authorized teachers of the tradition that have undergone full training in TMY and have received the full authority of the lineage (through consecration ritual) to teach the TMY Path to others. The general training period is 10 – 12 years.
During the next 8 years I will be looking for those 12 or so students who will form the TMY Ācārya group. These students will take on the responsibility of preserving the TMY path. They must demonstrate a high level of competency in one of the 5 Ways of Practice. They may also learn and be responsible for as much of the other 4 Ways of Practice as they desire, but they must master at least one of the 5 Ways of Practice, and all of the auxiliary Cycles of Teachings and Practices.
GURU YOGA
The astrologers advised that the key to unfolding the fate of TMY lies in emphasizing the practice of Guru-Yoga and the oral teachings and transmissions as the main vehicle of training. We will not be emphasizing much text learning, but will lean very heavily on the TMY View given orally. To this end we are working on a text of the oral View Teachings to serve as a reference. The students who feel themselves to be Heart-Students, future Acaryas-in-Training, or Solo Practitioners deeply devoted to the TMY Path, are advised to create the lifestyle situation that will afford them the maximum contact time with the teacher close to one of the TMY centers or one of the teacher’s residences.
INITIATIONS
Recently we have had many requests for initiation.
The following is extremely important to understand. The ability to become a fully liberated being DOES NOT depend on receiving a spiritual name, mantra, etc. through ritual initiation. Everyone who is a sincere student of TMY, who keeps a harmonious, positive and supportive relationship with TMY and the teacher and Ācāryas, will always have access to all of the teachings and practices relevant to their personal path of practice within TMY.
Formal ritual initiations are not emphasized in TMY other than for:
- Initiation into a practice or retreat
- Ācārya authorization initiation
- Heart-Student initiation
If you need an outside reference to support this approach of creating a non-initiated community of practice you can reference how the late great Dzogchen master – Namkhai Norbu – structured his school. No initiations were given except to teachers and long term retreatants. His community practiced without this formality and functioned spectacularly well, producing many great practitioners and scholars.
If you would like to get more involved in the Path of TMY and would like to ask more specific questions about that, please join us for an open question and answer session on zoom – Saturday, December 10th, at 11:00am Costa Rica time.
May Your Practice Be Fruitful! And May it Benefit All Beings!
SARVA MANGALAM!!! - Dharma Bodhi
