"Never Forget Hinayana" Practice Intensive

July 8-16, 2019 $395.00 includes room and board

“As far as basic dharma is concerned, at this point everything is connected with the sitting practice of meditation alone. There is no area in the practice of hinayana Buddhism, which is the foundation of Buddhism, in which people can actually attain any notion of freedom at all without understanding or realizing the great need for sitting meditation practice. The sitting practice of meditation is immensely important in all this. The logic or the reason for this is that if we are at all working with the sense of egolessness, of any sort or any direction, we have to have some training that involves letting go of our ground, letting go of our carpet.”

Vidyadhara Trungpa Rinpoche 1975 Hinayana-Mahayana Transcripts pp.101

The Hinayana practice intensive comes at the beginning of the Dzogchen Summer Seminary.  During this intensive we will engage shamatha - vipashyana training  which forms the foundation of our three yana journey.  The emphasis of the training will be on developing one-pointed awareness.  

Participants will take the pratimoksha vows every morning.  Meals will be taken in the oryoki style developed by Trungpa Rinpoche.  The retreat will be silent.  Individual meditation instruction will be available.

Daily Schedule

5:30 Wake up

6-8 Morning Chants and Shamatha Vipashyana meditation 

8-8:30 Oryoki Breakfast

9-12 Shamatha Vipashyana Meditation

12-12:45 Oryoki Lunch

1:30- 3:00 Work Period

4-6 Shamatha -Vipashyana Meditation and Protector Chants

6-7 Oryoki Dinner

7-9 Shamatha-Vipashyana Meditation Closing Chants

10:00 lights out

Sadhana of Mahamudra Drupchen

July 15, 2019 to July 21, 2019 

Buddha in the Palm of Your Hand: The Mahamudra Teachings of the Vajra Regent Osel Tend

“By working for the benefit of others we overcome hope and fear and make our meditation practice continuous.  In any transition there is a gap where the absence of the previous reference point has not yet become the next one.  In that space, there is no time.  That is the Buddha’s time.”

Vajra Regent Osel Tendzin

This will be an intensive meditation retreat which will focus on the profound teachings of the Vajra Regent Osel Tendzin.  We will be making use of newly released recordings of the Vajra Regent giving talks on his text "Buddha in the Palm of Your Hand."  Through study, contemplation and meditation we will deepen our understanding of these profound teachings and mix our minds with the Vajra Regent and our Kagyu Lineage.

Cost: $495.00 includes room and board

January Dathun:

Mixing Mind and Space

January 4,  to February 3, 2019

“In the Kagyu tradition a little special technique of breathing practice which is employed is the experiencing of “chung ne dro sum.”  “Chung” is where the thoughts arise; “ne” is dwell and “dro” is where they went; and those three are accompanied by “ying rig se wa.”  Ying means space; “rig” means conscious mind; “se wa” means mixing.  So mixing the mind consciousness.  Sometimes it’s called also “lung sem se wa”—the mind and breathing mixing together.   Whatever it is, the idea is that sense of space.  And one doesn’t have to deliberately try to mix the mind and the breathing with solemn effort particularly.  But like you feel the well-being of your body, in the same way you could feel you are breathing, a general sense of breathing.”

Trungpa Rinpoche

“The View Is the recognition of space as the true nature of mind.  According to the Kagyu gurus, mind is like space.  Space is unobstructed, all pervasive, empty and not produced by causes.  Space accommodates everything—life and death, confusion and liberation.  In that way it is the ground of everything.  At the same time, space is ungraspable by thought and cannot be experienced as a thing.  It is spotless because it has no allegiance and to describe it is impossible.  The best you can say is that space simply is, and in that sense it is primordially pure.

     “We should view our mind in the same way: mind is the ground of everything.”

Vajra Regent Osel Tendzin

Dathun is the foundational retreat of the Vajradhatu sangha of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.  It is a month long immersion in the practice of Shine Lhakthong or mindfulness/awareness which forms the core for our mahamudra and Dzogchen path.  In particular, it paves the way for entrance into the annutara yoga tantra.  Without some kind of accomplishment of shine/lhakthong it is impossible to engage ngondro and the sadhana of Vajrayogini – which are the core practices of Kagyu tantra.

Dathun consists of 8 to 10 hours of group shine/lhakthong practice with oryoki meals.  Group and private meditation instruction is offered regularly.  Dzogchen Meditation Center is closed to the public during this retreat. '

The pre-requisite for this retreat is that the applicant practices shamatha-vipashyana meditation following Trungpa Rinpoche's instructions at least two hours a day as a personal practice.

$800.00

Includes dormroom  accommodation and meals

Private rooms are available on a first come first serve basis and cost an additional $250.00 per week.