Raven Cypres Wood

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kalden yungdrung
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Raven Cypres Wood

Post by kalden yungdrung »

Tashi delek,

Yeh, Raven Cypres Wood is like i told before, a very devoted Bönpo.
Remarkable for me personal is that she has a tie / connection with Shangpa Kagyud and Niguma.
I was also like her, involved in the precious Shangpa Kagyud Lineage , for 23 years and Kyungpo Näldjor, the founder of this Tibetan Tradition was before he converted himself to Tibetan Buddhism , like so many other Tibetans, a Bönpo.

Mutsuk Marro
KY.

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H.E. the Tashi Menri Lopon Rinpoche & Raven Cypres Wood.jpg
H.E. the Tashi Menri Lopon Rinpoche & Raven Cypres Wood.jpg (61.23 KiB) Viewed 749 times
Raven Cypress Wood was born into a Christian family in 1967 in Alabama, United States. Throughout her childhood, she focused upon gaining spiritual knowledge and experience and had many vivid dreams of receiving advice and healing knowledge from her ancestors.

At the age of 18, feeling that Christianity was limited in its view, she began studying her ancestor’s native American traditions. Attending college, but mostly studying on her own, in her early 20’s she began offering healing rituals and spiritual guidance for those who came to her asking for help. For over 12 years, she developed her ritual and counseling practice in order to assist with the healing and growth of people regardless of their religious beliefs.

In late 1999, after a strong visionary experience upon reading the name ‘Niguma’ and seeing an image of the yogini, she made a vow to pray for 100 days and ask for her help in meeting an authentic lama.

During this time, she read whatever she could find about Niguma, her teachings, and the Shangpa Kagyu lineage.


In the first half of the 100 days of prayer, she met Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and felt an immediate connection. A couple of years later having received many teachings from Tenzin Rinpoche as well as other Yungdrung Bön lamas, she dissolved her thriving counseling practice as well as stopped her teaching and lectures regarding ritual and healing. She was asked to join the Ligmincha Council and acted as retreat coordinator for four years. During this time, she moved from Massachusetts to Virginia and spent 3 months serving practitioners at Serenity Ridge who were undergoing the Dzogchen dark retreat. Afterwards, she lived at the retreat center for over 6 years and also acted as one of the caretakers of Serenity Ridge.

When Raven began practicing the Yungdrung Bön tradition, she wanted to make more of the precious Tibetan language texts available in the English language, so she began to self-study classical written Tibetan.

Over the course of many years, she has had the opportunity to study and practice with many esteemed Yungdrung Bön masters including

- His Holiness 33rd Menri Trizen Rinpoche,
- His Eminence Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche,
- His Eminence Menri Lopon Thrinley Nyima Rinpoche.

With disciplined study on her own of Classical Tibetan, together with the help of many lamas, she began to translate various texts from Tibetan into English. In order to translate the Tsewang Chok du Jarima text, she learned to read the Tibetan umé, or head-less, script along with its many hidden letters. In order to accurately translate the Yungdrung Bön prayers and texts, she continually studies the historical, cultural and political contexts specific to Yungdrung Bön and its ancient origins.

In her translations, consideration is given to using English words that convey both the correct literal meaning and the implied meaning. With few exceptions, she does not use Sanskrit language words except for those that have come to be part of the general English lexicon. In this way, Raven’s English translations aim to stay true to the Yungdrung Bön and not be mixed with Buddhist contexts. Similarly, when translating texts such as prayer request that are written as poetry and meant to be accompanied by a melody and instruments, her goal is to translate the accurate meaning as well as convey the poetic beauty and tone of the original text. Her translations of texts that are meant to be chanted include the English translation as well as the original Tibetan together with a pronunciation guide in order to allow students to chant the texts in the Tibetan language.

Raven Cypress Wood has translated hundreds of Yungdrung Bön prayers, poems, texts and commentaries. Additionally, she supports many Yungdrung Bön lamas by writing teaching curriculums and creating practice and study materials for their students.

Since 2013, she has been writing articles and offering information on the history, culture and practice of Yungdrung Bön religious tradition on her website Nine Ways. The website has been translated into the Spanish and Portuguese languages and is currently being developed for the French language.
The best meditation is no meditation
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