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Peace And Freedom In Personal Retreat Choyin shares his journey to Amsterdam I have often told my students that there is no calvary coming to save them from the circumstances of their mental, emotional, and spiritual challenges. If you feel that the clamor of being around dharma organizations or the expectations of those who want you to think like them hampers your sense of freedom, then it is your responsibility to find the meaning of your practice in a more personal and intimate way. This is another way of saying what my teacher always told me, "It is up to you to create the circumstances of your liberation." The freedom of Vajrayana practice allows one to use the entire earth as a cushion. The key to liberation can be found in merging the outer experience of an enlightening journey with the inner Choyin in Prinsengracht Apartment, Amsterdam The Vajrayana practice of Chod can play a significant role in realizing freedom. First, one must let go of any notion that Chod practice is preparation to becoming "something". Khempo Gyurme Tinly, my teacher, was an accomplished Chodpa, yet I rarely saw him with drum and trumpet in hand. He certainly, to my knowledge, led no public retreats on the "How to" of it all. The essence, he described to me, is to be found in doing the practice in frightening places. By this he meant that the value of the practice can only reveal itself through facing one's personal demons. It is a practice that requires insight into the workings of one's deepest fears, injuries, challenges, and concerns. The approach is one of excavating the psyche as a means of first uncovering, then letting light into, the dark places Portrait: Jack Vlackenburgh, director of Dutch West Indies(c. 1660), trading in slaves and gold. Amsterdam, seat of power for 350 years of global slavery, provided me with plenty of opportunities for reflection and Chod practice. Coincidently, one of Europe's largest Gay Pride Parades floated by on the canal just Gay Pride Parade, in the canals of Amsterdam
Unlike many countries, the Netherlands has acknowledged its role in the globalization of ethnicide and slavery. National Slave Monument, Oosterpak, Amsterdam
In all, the journey/retreat was miraculous. I hope you will look into your heart and find your personal retreat somewhere in this world. Go there, to a frightening place if possible, and discover your power to face the past, present, and future. Very Best Wishes, Lama Rangdrol More Photos
An Incredible National Slavery Monument
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radiance of one's awakened awareness. Of course, this is a dualistic explanation of an experience that has never been separated and is primordially pure from beginningless beginning endlessness. But, to make things simple I'll just say that having an enlightening travel experience while meditating on its impermanence can be a very powerful practice.
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outside my window. As a straight male teacher I felt a great blessing to witness freedom, frivolity, beauty, and conspicuous courage through a mental and emotional lens I've never known. In all, the city offered a life-changing backdrop to a practice whose deepest inner experience is nothing less than the medicine of timeless awareness. 
A public sculpture, simply called the "National Slave Monument" is prominently featured in one of its major parks. The sculpture is large and dramatic in its presentation and purpose. Although some in the country feel a sculpture is not enough to repair the suffering of centuries, I saw it as an significant display of leadership, compassion, and national introspection. 
