[vc_row u_row_style=”1″ lms_row_has_bk_offset=”0″ lms_row_bk_columns_offset=”0″ u_row_enrollment_restriction=”0″][vc_column width=”1\/12″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-2 vc_hidden-xs”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”5\/6″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-8″ el_class=”head-post”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
By Franka Cordua-von Specht \u2022 4 min read[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”sharepost”]\n\t\t\t\t
SHARE:\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/a>\n\t<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”Joy of Living” style=”outline” color=”peacoc” align=”left” el_class=”btn-post” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fjoy.tergar.org%2Fjoy-of-living%2F||target:%20_blank|”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/12″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-2 vc_hidden-xs”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row u_row_style=”1″ lms_row_has_bk_offset=”1″ lms_row_bk_columns_offset=”0″ u_row_enrollment_restriction=”0″][vc_column lms_has_clearfix=”0″][vc_single_image image=”121519″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1704912149255{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}” el_class=”hidden-xs”][vc_single_image image=”121520″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1704912170635{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}” el_class=”visible-xs”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row u_row_style=”1″ lms_row_has_bk_offset=”0″ lms_row_bk_columns_offset=”0″ u_row_enrollment_restriction=”0″][vc_column width=”1\/12″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-2 vc_hidden-xs”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”5\/6″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-8″][vc_column_text el_class=”subtittle-open-post”]<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you find something in your life that you treasure, you just naturally want to share it.” ~ Edwin Kelley<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”subtittle-open-post”]<\/p>\n In December, Australians\u2019 long-awaited wish to receive Mingyur Rinpoche to their continent came true.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Rinpoche\u2019s visit, which included eight different events in Melbourne and Sydney,\u00a0 was a stunning success, beautifully orchestrated and delivered. And a long time in the making!<\/span><\/p>\n Tergar Instructor Edwin Kelley has been championing Rinpoche\u2019s visit to Australia for more than a decade. After Rinpoche’s return from his wandering retreat in 2015, Rinpoche committed to coming in 2020, but that the visit never happened due to the pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n For this visit, several factors combined to help create the right conditions. For one, lead organizer Jeremy Wortsman played a key role. He\u2019s been the catalyst for establishing a local community focused on Rinpoche\u2019s teachings. Another factor was an in-person week-long retreat last February in Melbourne that Edwin and Myoshin Kelley led. The retreat brought people together and forged personal connections so that a committed core group was ready to help when the planning began for Rinpoche’s visit.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cTo finally have this come to fruition is very special,\u201d said Edwin in an interview from Merimbula, a coastal town halfway between Melbourne and Sydney. In photographs from the event, Edwin can be seen welcoming Rinpoche at the Sydney airport, wheeling his luggage out the airport doors. It was history in the making, and a dream come true for Edwin. \u201cWhen you find something in your life that you treasure, you just naturally want to share it,\u201d said Edwin. \u201cI\u2019ve wanted for many years to share these teachings with my fellow Australians.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Indeed, Edwin had been collecting names of Australians interested in Rinpoche\u2019s teachings for more than two decades, amassing quite a collection to contact in the event of Rinpoche\u2019s visit.<\/span><\/p>\n The organizing team did a splendid job, with Rinpoche\u2019s visit touching the community’s far reaches, bringing together new meditators and long-time Buddhists, and including two events with the Tibetan community. The series of events even featured a very successful family hour, in which children asked Rinpoche their questions directly. \u201cParents and kids are often overlooked, so I really wanted to make sure parents could get to meet Rinpoche, and kids could as well,\u201d said Jeremy. \u201cThe questions they asked were amazing.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For Mingyur Rinpoche, it was a wonderful visit. \u201cThe people are really open-minded and receptive, and the environment is very nice,\u201d he said. \u201cThe community is really interested to apply the practice and meditation.\u201d He added that he enjoyed the unique Australian culture, which includes influences from Asia, Europe, and North America.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For many Australians, it was their first opportunity to meet Rinpoche. How important is it to receive the teachings in person? \u201cI\u00a0 would say it’s like the difference between mono and stereo, or stereo and surround sound,\u201d said Jeremy. \u201cYou receive the teachings in such a different way.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jeremy and the team spent months preparing for the visit, with many community members recording personal invitations that Jeremy formally hand-delivered when Rinpoche was in Portland, Oregon, USA, on his teaching tour in the spring of 2022. The organizing team also received tremendous support from Myoshin and Edwin. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t have done it without them,\u201d said Jeremy, likening the pair\u2019s knowledge and help, both on or off the teaching stage, to an oral transmission or a \u201ccheat sheet\u201d which allowed the group to streamline its planning, train the volunteers and best prepare for the visit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For Jeremy, one of the highlights of the visit was seeing Rinpoche arrive at the airport. \u201cIt was very emotional.\u201d The emotions signaled incredible relief after countless hours of effort to orchestrate the visit. As well, standing amidst the crowd at the airport, Jeremy felt deeply touched knowing that Rinpoche\u2019s presence would benefit a great many people.<\/span><\/p>\n SPIRIT OF VOLUNTEERING<\/strong><\/p>\n Since it was Rinpoche\u2019s first time in Australia, the event organization presented a huge learning curve. Every aspect of the event was new, including coordinating the 60 volunteers from across the western and southern states of Victoria, New South Wales, and even Queensland.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Sue Pratt, a psychologist who has been with the Tergar Melbourne group since its beginnings, was part of the core organizing team and took on the critical role of volunteer coordinator.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPeople came with such a sense of how extraordinary that Ripoche was arriving on our shore,\u201d she said. \u201cThey felt the specialness of this, and then just wanted to give and give.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n She was deeply moved by the spirit of volunteerism and connection and described a special quality in the air,\u00a0 something like a nectar, that flowed and imbued a great warmth. \u201cThere was this heart-opening, a real sense of relational, collaborative being with each other, and the joy of that,\u201d she shared. \u201cAnd it just got bigger and bigger.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n The messages the organizing team received after the event were full of gratitude and readiness to help again. \u201cThere is one gorgeous fellow, a retired police officer, and he said, \u2018I felt like I just played my first football game, and I\u2019m ready for my next!\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n What lies ahead for Tergar Australia? It\u2019s too early to say for sure, but before the end of 2023, the organization will have charitable status and seek to find its place alongside Tergar Asia in the Pacific Rim.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A day after Rinpoche\u2019s departure, it all feels a bit surreal for Jeremy. \u201cDid it really happen?\u201d Jeremy joked.\u00a0 \u201cIt’s very bittersweet because it was just such an intense peak experience, and then it’s over as quickly as it started.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The time is now to integrate all that happened.\u00a0 \u201cWe’re still just soaking it in. It’s going to take a while!\u201d said Jeremy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cRinpoche\u2019s visit has precipitated a real cohesion in the students in Australia,\u201d said Edwin. \u201cIt feels like an immense potential of possibilities, which feels really wonderful.\u201d<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Franka Cordua-von Specht, co-founder of the Tergar Vancouver Practice Group and Tergar Canada, works for Tergar International’s marketing and communication team. She is a Tergar Guide and facilitates Joy of Living workshops.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/12″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-2 vc_hidden-xs”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row u_row_style=”1″ lms_row_has_bk_offset=”0″ lms_row_bk_columns_offset=”0″ u_row_enrollment_restriction=”0″][vc_column width=”1\/12″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-2 vc_hidden-xs”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row u_row_style=”1″ lms_row_has_bk_offset=”1″ lms_row_bk_columns_offset=”0″ u_row_enrollment_restriction=”0″ lms_row_bk_offset_section_classes=”bk-cielo-post”][vc_column width=”1\/12″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-2 vc_hidden-xs”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”5\/6″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-8″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text el_class=”free-text-blog”]<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”free-text-blog” css=”.vc_custom_1625157115208{padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”]<\/p>\nSuccess Down Under<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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