Rigdzin Ling

A few weeks back I went on a weekend Tibetan Buddhist retreat at Rigdzin Ling as part of a one unit class at HSU. This place is nestled in the trinity alps in Junction City, off of Hwy 299. As I pulled up in my car I felt I had been transported through some kind of warp and had arrived in Nepal. Well, as close as I've ever been to Nepal. A girls allowed to dream. There were prayer flags galore, stupas, fountains, shrines, and prayer wheels.

I've been looking to go on a retreat of this nature but have always been a little nervous to do so. Often there are so many rules to follow and I find myself nervous that I will wear the wrong thing or not bow at the appropriate time. Not the case at Rigdzin Ling. Here, you could wear whatever. Our teacher, Lama Zangpo, wore jeans the entire time. While many centers allow no drugs of any kind, here they had hot coffee prepared at all times and we could even bring our coffee into the shrine room where we sat to listen to teachings and meditate. Now that's my type of Buddhism.