Over the weekend of St. Patrick’s Day, 90 Rigpa students from Ireland and further afield took part in a profound meditation retreat led by Patrick Gaffney.

Patrick Gaffney is the most senior teacher in Rigpa. He is also a writer and translator who has studied and worked with some of the most renowned masters of Tibet. Patrick met Sogyal Rinpoche at Cambridge University in the 1970s and spent the next 40 years studying closely with him and helping in the development of Rigpa. He is the co-editor of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying and has also edited a number of other books and translations.

The retreat started very auspiciously on Friday 14 March, with Chotrul Duchen festival. Practices were done all day in the Temple (including a lobster life release ceremony) and culminated with an evening group practice that was streamed to more than 400 Rigpa students worldwide.

In the first three days of the retreat, entitled “The Freedom of Awareness,” Patrick gave a complete introduction to meditation practice, starting with object-oriented meditation and culminating with object-less meditation practice, a subtle form of practice that is a stepping stone to Dzogchen meditation. Patrick Gaffney shared that he had thought of calling the retreat “Meditation on the Edge” as Dzogchen Beara is sitting on the edge of a cliff and because we are always on the edge of discovering something about ourselves when we engage with meditation.

Patrick Gaffney reminded the retreatants that meditation is not primarily about finding peace or improving oneself, but discovering one’s true nature that is “partly hidden for the time being.” Each person possesses a basic fundamental goodness or enlightened nature with limitless qualities of love, awareness, and wisdom. Meditation is really about focusing on paying attention to our minds and discovering who we really are.

Patrick emphasized the importance of Sangha as “friends practising the Dharma together in order to bring about and to maintain awareness,” highlighting how spiritual friendship provides support and perspective on the path.

From Tuesday to Sunday, Patrick continued teaching on Self-Liberating meditation, a Dzogchen instruction from Patrul Rinpoche, a key master in the lineage which Rigpa is part of. This was the first time that Dzogchen teachings were given in the Temple.

This retreat was a momentous occasion for Dzogchen Beara and the Rigpa Sangha. Participants felt it was the first time in years since the whole sangha had gathered together. Everyone enjoyed Patrick’s seamless delivery and his embodying of the Buddhist teachings. Throughout the retreat, Patrick used humor, examples, and stories to make profound points accessible. He also connected students (whether long-time or new) to our lineage by sharing many stories and quotes from great masters from our lineage like Patrul Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche, Ato Rinpoche, Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche.

Patrick expressed his commitment to support Dzogchen Beara and praised the Dzogchen Beara community and Rigpa Sangha for the care they put into everything—care which he described as an unmistakable emblem of this lineage. He noted that Dzogchen Beara was a place of great power and great depth and that he could see it becoming more and more important as a place to introduce people to these life-changing experiences and practices.

Patrick concluded the retreat by reminding us that meditation is an opportunity to change, to actually transform our mind. Meditation also represents a willingness to work with ourself, particularly when we see how much suffering is created by our mind, emotions, feelings and perceptions. Meditation is a way to sharpen our awareness, it’s a different way of looking at life and at ourself, a new way of being with ourself, of being spacious, being open and above all being natural. Patrick promised he would come back to Ireland and encouraged everyone to keep going.