We are writing from the Palyul Ling Retreat Center, the main seat in the United States of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, located in rural upstate New York. It is late Fall. Our retreatant friends from the Tenth Annual Summer Retreat are long packed and returned to their homes, but the echo of their prayers and practices still sweeten the air. The breeze has turned cold, the sky deep blue, and the leaves are wearing their Fall colors of deep red, maroon and saffron. We can’t help but think the trees themselves adopt the vows of the ordained just for a season, imbued with the blessings of our recently completed retreat and inspired by the proximity of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, who spent the months after retreat recuperating in his summer home here, surrounded by his attentive group of monk attendants.
This morning while helping Dorje Lopon Lama Sochuk, the year-round resident lama, add pine fronds to the billowing smoke of the Sang offering piled high on the fireplace outside the temple, we were reminded of His Holinesses teachings about the importance of the support of a Dharma center. The peaceful and tranquil environment, the smoke gently puffing to the clear sky, and Lama Sochuk’s kindly “Woh ya,” telling us we’d piled on enough pine for the moment, was redolent with the possibility that such a peace could arise even in ourselves.