When I booked myself into the Santi Maha Sangha retreats with Jim Valby, 5 days in London and another 5 in Kunselling this spring, I wasn't quite sure what to expect…
Having scanned the list of possible topics for the London retreat; Three Aspects of Dzogchen Transmission, Four Aspects for Understanding Primordial Knowledge, Five Marvelous Aspects of Primordial Knowledge, Five Principles of Primordial Knowledge, Five Necessary Capacities for Primordial Knowledge, Six Unlimited Principles of Primordial Knowledge, Ten Ways to Obstruct Primordial Knowledge, Sixteen Methods of Direct Introduction, I found myself faced with the difficult decision of whether to try to take notes in some vain attempt to keep up or instead to just sit and listen in the hope that that at least some small part of it would be absorbed.
I am sure that anyone who has considered taking the SMS base exam and read through the Precious Vase will be familiar with the feeling of vertigo that such a daunting and detailed list can generate, so abandoning all hope (and some fear) I opted for the latter.
Jim Valby has quite an animated style of presentation which put us at our ease from the start, and despite addressing a full room, it felt like he was chatting with a dear friend that he'd known for many years. His use of stories and humour while explaining hard to grasp ideas tended more towards demonstration than explanation, and his anecdotal style had a way of injecting life into some of the potentially drier philosophical ideas.
Jim's unique insight into the teachings and his extensive experience within the history of the community enabled him to share his broad perspective, and although we covered most of the points on the numbered list of topics in some detail, with his apparently endless energy throughout, Jim kept everything interesting, varied, and gave an incredible depth of explanation without ever losing the wider perspective.
The subsequent retreat in Kunselling was more practice oriented, focusing on purification through the various yanas while working with transmission, and it was here we got to spend even more quality time with Jim, who even outside of the talks was often sharing his fascinating stories and insights. It truly was a pleasure to spend that time with him for the whole 10 days.
In the end, what was in fact quite a structured and detailed course, dense in ideas and potentially difficult topics was transformed into something clear, straightforward, and dare I say, fun!
(Photos by Raf Portas)
(Photo by Mike Farmer)
