Opening Ceremony

Series: Summer 2024

Opening Ceremony

There’s nothing more magical than the opening ceremonies. Sitting comfortably in the stands, sunglasses on, straw in cup, sipping a sweet drink, we look forward to what’s to come: music, dances, parades, everything! To the delight of young and old alike, all our senses are saturated with the scents brought by the sporadic breeze, the shimmering colors of the moving costumes, the vibrant chords that rise to our ears.

The crowd shakes, stirs, murmurs. We shiver… Only a few minutes to go before the big start!

Stop. Black looks from the athletes. Black looks from the coaches. What did we say? Big start…? That’s it, isn’t it?

Well, not exactly.

“Great Perfection is like the Olympics: by the time you get to the Opening Ceremony, a lot of work has to be done. And not just a little.” 

Great Perfection is like the Olympics: by the time you get to the Opening Ceremony, a lot of work has to be done. And not just a little.

In Dzogchen, this opening ceremony is the introduction to the primordial nature of mind. It’s where everything begins: we experience our own luminous, empty nature, whose compassionate rays penetrate and enbrace everything. This is the cornerstone, the foundation of the whole path, which only really begins from this introduction. In fact, it’s the first of Garab Dorje’s famous three aphorisms: “Meet your essential nature in the moment.” This encounter is primordial: the rest of the training is simply a matter of returning to it, again and again, naturally.

First, we prepare ourselves. And even though this can be time-consuming and demanding, what a joy it is to know what it will lead to: the release of the doves that are our disturbing emotions, the flame of transmission that lights the cauldron of realization, and the great completion of all training in the ultimate tests !

And so we train, with as many variations as in Olympic sports. First, the disciplines: we practice body yogas, we concentrate with or without support, we recite mantras or not, we connect with our own nature through sound. Each exercise itself has different levels: first we approach them with complexity, then more and more simply and directly. At the same time, we learn theories that we test in our daily life and practice, to verify their relevance and fully understand them. In moments of doubt or despondency, we return to the basics of training, and rekindle our motivation: to achieve our own good and the common good.

Coaches play the crucial role we know them to play. They give instructions with generosity, listen with discipline, explain with patience, advise with wisdom. Their enthusiasm is contagious. They tirelessly push us according to our abilities, and treat our teammates with the same love and kindness.

Then comes the Opening Ceremony. The Gread Perfection ceremony is difficult to plan: you never quite know when it’s going to happen. Maybe when you’re sitting in the stands, watching the others go by, and you’ve given up any thought of ever being in their shoes! Sipping our favorite beverage, our ears filled with the primordial hymn, we suddenly realize that the primordial evidence has taken over our lives.

Now we’re ready for the final tests of the games. And we’re in for a real treat !

Have a great summer with the Olympic Games of Great Perfection !