Sakya Namgyal Archive

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THE SAKYA NAMGYAL ARCHIVE

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His Holiness Sakya Trizin - June 11th 2000

"Sakya Pandita, who is known as the emanation of Manjushri, emphasized that the basic fundamental requirements of serious Dharma practice accomplishments are (1) propagation of the Dharma, (2) discussion of the Dharma, and (3) writing about the Dharma. Today there is access to the Dharma through the unthinkably fast and far-reaching medium of the Internet and other technologies. Through technology, the Dharma can be taught, practiced, and preserved, with the benefit of these new means."

Click To Download a free .mp3 file

Namgyal Rinpoche's Discourse On The Forest Grove Sutta

[This file is 34 Mbs]

Here can be found various written teachings and recordings - principles and practices - eastern and western, formatted for individual and/or group applications. Currently, they can be read and listened to on-site or downloaded as free PDF's and MP3's. There are no charges for the teachings per se. Any charges are to prevent systems from becoming obsolete and to improve the process in general - there are many expenses involved, even with volunteer help. Donations are always gratefully appreciated and well used

As soon as the delays caused by the PayPal international on-line secure payment system are resolved, recordings and publications will be available for download directly from the site by acquiring a $10 code for each item. Some booklets and recordings will be longer and some shorter but it will find the middle way. We would like to keep the process simple and inexpensive, with a minimum amount of filing, packaging and mailing etc.

Presently some booklets are already available as hard copy 81/2" x 11" larger text format for easier reading. I find the 51/2"x81/2"to be too small, but this could be possible. If they run to many pages they will cost more - it remains to be resolved. At some point in the near future they will all be available as hard copy booklets, for easy 'study-in-the-flat' for those who request that format and/or as CD's with labels burned on.

It is not always possible to know or acknowledge by name original or succeeding editors, compilers and transcribers of the Rinpoche's words. Some materials appeared with no such identifications. As individuals and collective entities in the ongoing process of change and transformation some have retired, passed on, dissolved or been taken over.

The Rinpoche himself offered commentaries on texts that had been produced by others. His approach in the main was that it was meritorious to make the teaching available for study, although this should not become an end in itself - that is, the mere accumulation of intellectual knowledge, rather than the implementation of the principles into practice for the growth of wisdom to alleviate suffering for self and all other beings.

Be that as it may, he stated that meritorious endeavors were their own reward and did not require recognition, his own included. Ultimately he gave in (in the beginning he did not even allow note-taking) and even agreed that it might be beneficial to have the teachings recorded, published and circulated - made easily available to the 'masses'.

The last time I talked with him on the subject of royalties etc, and publishing his thoughts he told me that he trusted me to do whatever I wanted with any of them but to beware of the 'traditionalists' who often resented change! Also, the 'Rinpoche said!' phenomena.

He mentioned in passing that from all the things published using his name he had not received a penny and he assumed that those doing the compiling, editing, publishing and circulating etc of his thoughts and words needed all the income to keep it going. From that day I periodically offered donations to him from my small publishing activities.

He displayed no attachment whatsoever to controlling publishing activities for his own purposes and I recall his response to the concept of intellectual property was laughter. His only concern was that these efforts should reflect his speech as accurately as possible and that verbal teaching should be rendered into the highest literary quality and presentation possible, bearing in mind the technical constraints of different formats.

Sakya Namgyal Archive

Until now the archive had been a privately sponsored personal project. A generous, early sponsor initiated the digital transfer process by donating a dollar per minute, per discourse, for transferring tapes into digital form. The tapes of Rinpoche's teaching average 50 minutes each, so people are now donating $50 per teaching to transfer each tape into a digital sound file, enter it into the universal catalogue system and safely preserve it on back-up systems - to be followed by improving the sound quality, creating the 'liner notes', loading it into a data base for cross-referencing and indexing, designing labels, burning and printing discs, and then transcribing them.

Some are donating $50 per month to sponsor one transfer a month. Transfer sponsors are acknowledged on the disc label - unless they wish to remain anonymous - and will also receive personalized discs of the teachings that they sponsor. This will make discs available for others to acquire. Many thanks to the early sponsors who felt that this project merited support! They have allowed us, so far, to convert 75 of Rinpoche's discourses into digital format as .wav sound files, about 3,300 minutes worth - maybe 20% of the material presently on the shelf. As yet there has been very little work done on improving sound quality. The focus is on getting the raw data into digital format and catalogued.

From the archival point of view the primary purpose is the transfer of tapes into digital format! Once this has been done the intent is to produce professional quality CDs that would then be available for others to access at a very reasonable $10 per disc + $5 for Shipping - all figures $Can. The funds generated would go toward cost recovery of the investment in equipment and materials, which is about $10,000 to date - with a similar amount in labour from a professional point of view. This will enable archivists to work on tweaking and transcribing the files, etc. - and more importantly, continually upgrading storage and distribution capacity as current equipment becomes obsolete!

To this point, donated funds have gone to upgrading hardware and software to a professional level, with little for labour. There has been no marketing - the focus is on archiving - although we still have 25 or so of the original 'Refuge' CDs available. 'Refuge' was produced in two days and the sound quality was not improved. Many of the other recordings are good quality stereo and sound as if you are sitting at the Rinpoche's feet - which is exactly where the recorder was! You can hear his voice shift from side to side as he turns his head to look around the room… Rinpoche often said that his teaching would not bear its full fruit until our children's, children's generation. Sponsoring transfers makes it possible for future generations to hear the Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche.

Thank you for your interest and support