Dharma Fellowship
Dharma Fellowship
hI have seen some material here and there , and have seen a website of something called Dharma Fellowship of Canada . The leader is someone called Rod Devenish . Does anyone know anything about this ..?
He says he is a tulku of Lama Kunpal?
Would this be a good place to do a retreat?
He says he is a tulku of Lama Kunpal?
Would this be a good place to do a retreat?
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Re: Dharma Fellowship
Hello. It is 2017 and I am only reading your 2014 post now, as I am new to this site. For you and any who may be curious, I am happy to report that the quiet, unassuming Lama Rodney Devenish, founder of the Hermitage retreat centre on Denman Island, BC is, indeed, a highly-accomplished and exceedingly knowledgeable meditation facilitator and Namgyal lineage holder who was, indeed, recognized by the Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche as the Kupal tulku. I have spoken with him personally about this and it is not something he often speaks of, recognizing that he was not equipped with how to manage the knowledge at the time (and not entirely comfortable with how he did). I've done numerous retreats with Lama Rodney (Kunzang Rinpoche) who studied closely with, and received precious relics from (including personal robes) of the likes of Namgyal Rinpoche, Chogyam Trungpa, Kalu Rinpoche, Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche, and even the great U Thila Wunta. So, yes, from first hand experience I definitely recommend retreat with this great Master while he is still with us!
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Re: Dharma Fellowship
I would check with the Dharma Centre of Canada about the claims by this man of being named a Tulku by Namgyal Rinpoche.
You can contact them at [email protected]
I know many past and present members of Namgyal Rinpoche.
I know that Namgyal Rinpoche did make some members "Lamas" but never once heard of him recognizing anyone as a Tulku.
I could be wrong so please check "Vijayapath" with the headquarters of Namgyal Rinpoche at the Dharma Centre of Canada.
Please get back to us with a follow up.
It would be great to have another "Canadian" Tulku.
You can contact them at [email protected]
I know many past and present members of Namgyal Rinpoche.
I know that Namgyal Rinpoche did make some members "Lamas" but never once heard of him recognizing anyone as a Tulku.
I could be wrong so please check "Vijayapath" with the headquarters of Namgyal Rinpoche at the Dharma Centre of Canada.
Please get back to us with a follow up.
It would be great to have another "Canadian" Tulku.
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Re: Dharma Fellowship
UnquoteGot this from http://www.naturalmindmeditation.com/rodney-devenish
Rodney Devenish
Rodney Devenish (Karma Kunzang Palden Rinpoche) currently serves as Director of Curriculum for the School of Natural Mind Meditation. Recognized by the 16th Karmapa as Kunzang Rinpoche, Rodney is a Buddhist scholar and highly accomplished meditation master. He has authored a triad of vital meditation manuals and is Spiritual Director of the Dharma Fellowship of His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa. In 2005, Rodney and his wife, Lisa, founded The Hermitage retreat centre on Denman Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Over forty years ago, the Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche (1931-2003) installed Rodney to teach, recognizing him as the Kunpal Rinpoche tulku and holder of the Vijaya Lineage of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1979, Lama Rodney was granted authority to teach Mahamudra by the Venerable Kalu Rinpoche (1905-1989). Lama Rodney studied closely with other such great masters as Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939-1987), Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche (1938-2010) and the U Thila Wunta (1912-2011), receiving treasured and precious relics from each, including personal robes, which he has since passed to his leading disciple, Connie Mitchell.
Re: Dharma Fellowship
Great. Lovely. Now the still unanswered question is - can any of these super-sounding recognitions be confirmed by those who gave them, or, since they are mostly dead, their representative organizations, rather than by the adherents of Rodney Devenish, Namgyal etc.methar wrote:Got this from http://www.naturalmindmeditation.com/rodney-devenish
Rodney Devenish
Rodney Devenish (Karma Kunzang Palden Rinpoche) currently serves as Director of Curriculum for the School of Natural Mind Meditation...
And does anyone know who the "Kunpal Rinpoche" might be, or what the "Vijaya Lineage of the Kagyu School" might be?
Intriguing.
All best wishes
"The profundity of your devotion to your lama is not measured by your ability to turn a blind eye."
"The profundity of your devotion to your lama is not measured by your ability to turn a blind eye."
Re: Dharma Fellowship
Good point Lingpupa. Seems off to me, but again, the real point is to get solid factual confirmation.
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Re: Dharma Fellowship
Could the "Vijaya lineage" refer specifically to the lineage of transmission of the Ushnishavijaya (Namgyalma) mandala and associated practices within Karma Kagyu? The only reason i even thought of this possibility is because I've been involved in a project that's been investigating the lineages of transmission of Hevajra and Nairatmya within Kagyu.
If not, then it sounds really suspicious. Never heard of any Vijaya Kagyu institutional lineage. Sounds like a Western invention.
If not, then it sounds really suspicious. Never heard of any Vijaya Kagyu institutional lineage. Sounds like a Western invention.
"The Sutras, Tantras, and Philosophical Scriptures are great in number. However life is short, and intelligence is limited, so it's hard to cover them completely. You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice, it's like dying of thirst on the shore of a great lake. Likewise, a common corpse is found in the bed of a great scholar." ~ Karma Chagme
དྲིན་ཆེན་རྩ་བའི་བླ་མ་སྐྱབས་རྗེ་མགར་ཆེན་ཁྲི་སྤྲུལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཁྱེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ།།
རྗེ་བཙུན་བླ་མ་མཁས་གྲུབ་ཀརྨ་ཆགས་མེད་མཁྱེན་ནོ། ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོཿ
Re: Dharma Fellowship
Vijaya is a reference to Namgyal (rnam rgyal = vijaya). Apparently Leslie George Dawson aka Namgyal Rimpoche, or his students, imagine that he spawned an independent Karma Kagyu Ladrang.Lingpupa wrote:
And does anyone know who the "Kunpal Rinpoche" might be, or what the "Vijaya Lineage of the Kagyu School" might be?
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Re: Dharma Fellowship
Go this from the Connie Mitchell's website naturalmindmeditation.com.
Quote
Connie Mitchell
Connie Mitchell (Karma Konchok Kunzang Lhamo) founded the School of Natural Mind Meditation in 2013 and currently serves as Executive Director, Senior Curriculum Developer and Master Teacher. Lama Connie was recognized in 2008 by the Venerable Kunzang Rinpoche (1947- ) as holder in direct succession of the Namgyal Lineage of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. In 2017, Lama Connie was officially granted authority to teach Mahamudra, marked by the passing of rare and precious lineage relics.
Unquote
Quote
Connie Mitchell
Connie Mitchell (Karma Konchok Kunzang Lhamo) founded the School of Natural Mind Meditation in 2013 and currently serves as Executive Director, Senior Curriculum Developer and Master Teacher. Lama Connie was recognized in 2008 by the Venerable Kunzang Rinpoche (1947- ) as holder in direct succession of the Namgyal Lineage of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. In 2017, Lama Connie was officially granted authority to teach Mahamudra, marked by the passing of rare and precious lineage relics.
Unquote
Re: Dharma Fellowship
That's not the end of her list of qualifications, either! The site says:
I have written to them to see if they have an explanation for what "officially" means, who granted it, and also what sort of recognition letter Rodney may have been given by the Karmapa. Tibetans love those documents, so if there's any truth in it he must have one.
This all sounds very amazing!Lama Connie holds a Masters degree in International and Intercultural Communications and serves as an engaging and lucid public speaker on the wholistic nature of consciousness. Lama Connie is a further qualified Yoga Alliance instructor and lineage holder of the 1200-year old Nepalese yoga method known as Trulkhor Nyi-Da Kha-jor (Natural Mind Yoga). She is a Sensei in the Japanese tradition of Wado-Kai karate, a certified healing arts practitioner in multiple modalities, and a certified Buddhist Counselor.
I have written to them to see if they have an explanation for what "officially" means, who granted it, and also what sort of recognition letter Rodney may have been given by the Karmapa. Tibetans love those documents, so if there's any truth in it he must have one.
All best wishes
"The profundity of your devotion to your lama is not measured by your ability to turn a blind eye."
"The profundity of your devotion to your lama is not measured by your ability to turn a blind eye."
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Re: Dharma Fellowship
Hello Lingpupa
You could also try contacting this person at the office of the 17th Karmapa.
Khenpo Ghawang, Coordinator (Recognizing and Reincarnation and Matters)
[Moderator's edit.]
You could also try contacting this person at the office of the 17th Karmapa.
Khenpo Ghawang, Coordinator (Recognizing and Reincarnation and Matters)
[Moderator's edit.]
Last edited by Ayu on Wed Aug 09, 2017 12:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: It's not allowed to publish telephone numbers or email addresses without the direct consent of the owner.
Reason: It's not allowed to publish telephone numbers or email addresses without the direct consent of the owner.
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Re: Dharma Fellowship
The following information comes from the the website of the "Office of the 17th Karmapa" at http://kagyuoffice.org/office/contact/
Khenpo Ghawang, Coordinator (Recognizing and Reincarnation and Matters)
Khenpo Ghawang is in charge of handling all public inquiries having to do with Tulkus recognized by the past and present Karmapas.
Khenpo Ghawang, Coordinator (Recognizing and Reincarnation and Matters)
Khenpo Ghawang is in charge of handling all public inquiries having to do with Tulkus recognized by the past and present Karmapas.
Last edited by Ayu on Thu Aug 10, 2017 11:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Provided correct link and removed phonenumber again.
Reason: Provided correct link and removed phonenumber again.
Re: Dharma Fellowship
I wonder if anybody here is actually considering taking teachings from this person (and thus want verification of his qualifications) or if they are just being nosy gits?
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE
"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE
"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
Re: Dharma Fellowship
methar wrote:
I could be wrong so please check "Vijayapath" with the headquarters of Namgyal Rinpoche at the Dharma Centre of Canada.
Re: Dharma Fellowship
LolMalcolm wrote:methar wrote:
I could be wrong so please check "Vijayapath" with the headquarters of Namgyal Rinpoche at the Dharma Centre of Canada.
Practice, Practice, Practice
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Re: Dharma Fellowship
I know Khenpo Ghawang; I will ask him and report back if he has anything to share.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།
"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།
"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
Re: Dharma Fellowship
Goodish point, but are those alternatives the only possibilities you see?Grigoris wrote:I wonder if anybody here is actually considering taking teachings from this person (and thus want verification of his qualifications) or if they are just being nosy gits?
All best wishes
"The profundity of your devotion to your lama is not measured by your ability to turn a blind eye."
"The profundity of your devotion to your lama is not measured by your ability to turn a blind eye."
Re: Dharma Fellowship
In the context of this discussion? Yes.Lingpupa wrote:Goodish point, but are those alternatives the only possibilities you see?Grigoris wrote:I wonder if anybody here is actually considering taking teachings from this person (and thus want verification of his qualifications) or if they are just being nosy gits?
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE
"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE
"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
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Re: Dharma Fellowship
See the new bio profile on Rodney Devenish at naturalmindmeditation.com/rodney-devenish and compare it to the old bio profile I have posted from the same website on this thread.
Re: Dharma Fellowship
Do feel free to call me a nosy git – I can happily gloss "nosy" as having a curious, enquiring mind, something anybody could be proud of. As for "git", I think that's the kind of word that mainly serves to convey the speaker's negative value judgement, and is therefore more a matter for the speaker than for me.
In any case, I do have a very small personal reason to be interested in this. It would have been in March 1974, shortly after I had first taken refuge, that I came across Leslie Dawson / Namgyal, who was giving a Chenrezi empowerment. The Lama who was spiritual director of the centre let it be known that he wanted his students to take this empowerment. But wait for it! The reason was this: although LD was not the real deal, he had been recognised by the 16th Karmapa, so if nobody went to the empowerment it would be rude. An interesting experience for a beginner, so I think it's fair that I'm curious about the fallout of his later career.
Anyway, on Wednesday of last week (9 August) I sent the following email to the "naturalmindmeditation" website (this is a full, unedited copy):
1) Rodney Devenish
Recognized by the 16th Karmapa as Kunzang Rinpoche – removed
Namgyal … recognizing him as the Kunpal Rinpoche tulku and holder of the Vijaya Lineage of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism – removed
studied closely with … the U Thila Wunta (1912-2011), receiving treasured and precious relics from each, including personal robes, which he has since passed to his leading disciple, Connie Mitchell – removed
2) Connie Mitchell
Lama Connie – now just Connie (three occurrences of this change - the word "lama" has been taken out)
was officially granted authority to teach Mahamudra – now just "was granted authority to teach Mahamudra"
and serves as an engaging and lucid public speaker on the wholistic nature of consciousness – removed
and a certified Buddhist Counselor – removed
Draw your own conclusions!
In any case, I do have a very small personal reason to be interested in this. It would have been in March 1974, shortly after I had first taken refuge, that I came across Leslie Dawson / Namgyal, who was giving a Chenrezi empowerment. The Lama who was spiritual director of the centre let it be known that he wanted his students to take this empowerment. But wait for it! The reason was this: although LD was not the real deal, he had been recognised by the 16th Karmapa, so if nobody went to the empowerment it would be rude. An interesting experience for a beginner, so I think it's fair that I'm curious about the fallout of his later career.
Anyway, on Wednesday of last week (9 August) I sent the following email to the "naturalmindmeditation" website (this is a full, unedited copy):
I also wrote to Khenpo Gawang at the publicly provided address for matters of recognition. To date I have not heard back from either of these people, but it now appears that changes have been made to the naturalmindmeditation website. I have tabulated the differences, but for the sake of space I provide here just a summary (italics and bolding all mine, in the hope of greater clarity):Hi,
I and a few friends have been intrigued by your website, and we are trying to work out (I hope you don't mind me saying this) if you are "legit", or not. Do you mind, therefore, if I ask you one or two questions? I'll take it that's okay, and here goes:
The site says that "Lama Connie was officially granted authority to teach Mahamudra”, but does not explain what "officially" means, or who it was who did this. Can you explain?
Generally, the qualifications claimed for both Connie and for Rodney are rather grand. Can you explain which "Kunzang Rinpoche” Rodney has been recognised as, and can you show us a copy of whatever recognition letter he was given by the Karmapa?
I look forward to hearing
Yours in the Dharma
Alex Wilding
1) Rodney Devenish
Recognized by the 16th Karmapa as Kunzang Rinpoche – removed
Namgyal … recognizing him as the Kunpal Rinpoche tulku and holder of the Vijaya Lineage of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism – removed
studied closely with … the U Thila Wunta (1912-2011), receiving treasured and precious relics from each, including personal robes, which he has since passed to his leading disciple, Connie Mitchell – removed
2) Connie Mitchell
Lama Connie – now just Connie (three occurrences of this change - the word "lama" has been taken out)
was officially granted authority to teach Mahamudra – now just "was granted authority to teach Mahamudra"
and serves as an engaging and lucid public speaker on the wholistic nature of consciousness – removed
and a certified Buddhist Counselor – removed
Draw your own conclusions!
All best wishes
"The profundity of your devotion to your lama is not measured by your ability to turn a blind eye."
"The profundity of your devotion to your lama is not measured by your ability to turn a blind eye."