The certain time & place

a transcript of teachings

apprentice retreat – the 19^th of March, 1993

Ngak’chang Rinpoche

‘. . . there is a finality about this time – a transient finality, like the surface of water rising in a spring or like the shimmering heat of liquid rock rising in the core of a volcano. There is nothing so extraordinary about this point in time that makes it different from any other point in time – apart from the fact that we live in this moment, and no other. We are alive now in this moment, and if we see that—if we fully experience that—then this is the perfect juncture. This is the certain time and place.’

Rinpoche We have looked—so far—at the certain teacher and the certain teaching. Then there are the certainties of time and place – we shall look at these two certainties together. I said earlier that rapturous intimacy in the subway during the middle of the day is possibly the wrong time and place. So with the teaching – it is not different. Teaching and transmission need to occur at the right time and place. What is the right time?

Q A time when people are awake?

R A time when people are not tired is important but not crucial – but it could be the tiredness could be valuable in terms of breaking down conceptual barriers.

Q Being in the right frame of mind?

R That would tend to have more to do with kyil’khor than time or place – unless one were to speak of juncture. In terms of transmission, time and place arise from transitions in our lives. We all arrive here at the end of our journeys so far. So far. Here we are. This is where we are now. We are all here at this point in time – having arriven. This is the destination to which our lives have brought us. It is not the final destination because there is never a final destination – yet here we are, and this here as far as we have come. So . . . there is a finality about this time – a transient finality, like the surface of water rising in a spring or like the shimmering heat of liquid rock rising in the core of a volcano. There is nothing so extraordinary about this point in time that makes it different from any other point in time – apart from the fact that we live in this moment, and no other. We are alive now in this moment, and if we see that—if we fully experience that—then this is the perfect juncture. This is the certain time and place.

Q Right – like it’s often the case that I can hear something once or many times and it doesn’t strike home – and then after a certain series of experiences you hear it again and suddenly you think, I have heard that so often yet I only really understand it now.

R Certainly. And that is not necessarily because the teaching has been expressed in a different way or a different tone of voice—although this may be also true—but because your experiential base is at the right point at this juncture. The place is important because each place has its atmosphere.

Q So where a thing happens is important; it has an influence on you?

R Especially in the sphere of Tantra. When an empowerment occurs, the Lama wears a special hat and shawl. Symbolic devices and images are arranged. These are all aspects of place. The place is not simply the location but the colour and texture of the location. We are here together and we are engaged in an apprentice retreat. There are thangkas and lineage statues here. There are vajra weapons here. There are other weapons – shotguns, muskets, revolvers, derringers, knives, swords . . . These things have meaning – special meaning, specifically to us. That is why these things are here. We brought them here. We expended effort to bring all these things here – and we brought them here specifically in order to create this atmosphere. This is too obvious to see. This is too obvious to see in terms of being remarkable. When we congregate in this way, we attempt to make whatever place it is as conducive as we can in terms of its symbolic quality. So we have a shrine. Yeshé takes great care of the shrine and makes sure that it is set up with precision, discernment, and elegance. The characteristics of the shrine are particular to us and the objects on the shrine have been gathered over many years and represent a growing tradition in the West. Some of the things you see on this shrine are extremely valuable – but that value does not always lie in monetary terms. There has certainly been an extraordinary outlay in terms of investment of resources – but the lineage value of some of these objects is inestimable. If anyone understands every aspect of the shrine we see here it would cause nyams to arise.

Q Is this is why when we gather together you ask people if they can to try and wear yogic colours of red white and blue – because in some sort of way each person is part of the shrine?

R Quite so. These colours fill everyone’s visual sphere. We don’t often notice what we are wearing, our clothes are too close to us – but each of us occur within everyone else’s field of vision. This is important. When Khandro Déchen or I wear our empowerment shawls – we have very little sense of their appearance. They are worn for those who see them.

Q And people make drum tails and drum cases and this is all part of an atmosphere of a place, that we come together, we create. . .

R Absolutely. Each part is part of the sense of place. We have no centre and so everywhere we go has to become our centre – and therefore everyone’s bell case and chöd drum chö’phen is an aspect of our centre. It might surprise some of you to know that Tibetan centres in general are extremely poorly equipped in terms of the equipment of the students. All the wealth is on the wall and precious little is on the carpet. In one sense we have all come here with multi-use bricks and cement and we build our centre where ever we go. This gives us a sense of time and place which would be extremely difficult to recreate in a centre. The time and place is especially precious—if you excuse that word—for us because we contribute so much toward its coming into being. It is quite possible that many of you undervalue the contribution you make to the time and place being certain. You make your vajra implement and instrument cases and then they merge into the wallpaper of your existence – but each item you make is an act of bodhicitta and an inspiration to others.