Naljorma Rin’dzin Pamo

Naljorma Rin’dzin Pamo became an apprentice to Lamas Ngala Nor’dzin and Ngala ’ö-Dzin in 1996 and was ordained in 2002 by Ngak’chang Rinpoche, Khandro Déchen and Traktung Rinpoche in West Wales. She first practiced Buddhist meditation in India in 1990 and was a practitioner with the New Kadampa Tradition in Britain prior to taking apprenticeship with the Aro Lamas.

Rin’dzin was the first disciple of Ngala Nor’dzin and Ngala ’ö-Dzin to take ordination and has supported the growth of their Sangha through retreat organisation, teaching on open retreats and mentoring new apprentices. She organised publicity for the UK Aro charity, Sang-ngak-chö-dzong and held teaching and empowerment events for members of the public. She has greatly enjoyed using media skills gained through her working life to represent Aro in TV programmes and on the radio.

Naljorma Rin’dzin is a physically active pamo. She has come to regard Sangha projects, such as the construction of a retreat hut in 2005, as a practice of integration through physical activity. Inspired by the history of the Aro Gar encampment in Tibet, she has accompanied her Lamas on many pilgrimages into the Welsh mountains and swam in a freezing mountain lake to sink an Aro gTérbum (treasure vase).

She says:
“In the film Seven years in Tibet, Heinrich Harrer, played by Brad Pitt, says that the clarity and freshness he has high up on a mountainside is the same quality of experience that he feels in the presence of his teacher. The teaching he receives is experiential, down-to-earth and practical, but enables him to make profound changes in the way that he relates to others. In the same way, I feel alive in the presence of my Lamas and the community of Buddhist practitioners. All I would like is to provide a doorway for those new to Buddhism and to the Aro lineage, into a colourful, rich and vibrant tradition and an opportunity for them to experience the possibility for practice to change their lives.”

A combination of training in gestalt psychotherapy and public speaking for Amnesty International influence her pragmatic approach to answering questions based in practice. She has written for Vajra Rainbow and has explored the possibilities of practising the Aro teachings on vajra romance in same sex and heterosexual relationship. She is currently studying for a Masters degree in International Diplomacy at the School of Oriental and African Studies and runs the Aro meditation group in London.