Retreats

Fearless Compassion

Prerequisite:  The Truth of Suffering Retreat 

"Compassion is based on some sense of 'soft spot' in us.  It is as if we had a pimple on our body that was very sore--so sore that we do not want to rub it or scratch it.  During our shower, we do not want to rub too much soap over it because it hurts.  There is a sore point or soft spot that happens to be painful to rub, painful to put hot or cold water over.  That sore spot on our body is an analogy for compassion.  Why?  Because even in the midst of immense aggression, insensitivity in our life, or laziness, we always have a soft spot, some point we can cultivate-- or at least not bruise.  Every human being has that kind of basic sore spot, including animals.  Whether we are crazy, dull, aggressive, ego-tripping, whatever we might be, there is still that sore spot taking place in us.  An open wound, which might be a more vivid analogy, is always there.  That open wound is usually very inconvenient and problematic.  We don't like it.  We would like to be tough.  We would like to fight, to come out strong, so we do not have to defend any aspect of ourselves.  We would like to attack our enemy on the spot, single-handedly.  We would like to lay our trips on everybody completely and properly, so that  we have nothing to hide.  That way, if somebody decides to hit us back, we are not wounded.  And hopefully, nobody will hit us on that sore spot, that wound that exists in us.  Our basic makeup, the basic constituents of mind, are based on passion and compassion at the same time.  But however confused we might be, however much of a cosmic monster we might be, still there is an open wound or sore spot in us always.  There will always be a sore spot."

A funny thing happens on our way to enlightenment.  Whatever our initial interest in the teachings of Buddhadharma what we actually discover in the practice of Shamatha/Vipashyana is that there is a weakness in our suit of armor.  This all feels horribly embarrassing and naked.  Our initial foray into these teachings started as a way to not feel this kind of pain-- unfortunately, as we go deeper into our training we find that we are getting punctured more and more by what happens in our lives.  We are continually falling in love and having our hearts broken.  Something keeps getting through our defenses.  Slowly --and terribly from the point of view of habitual mind -- we discover that this is the point!  We will just be going there from now on.  "There" is called maitri.  It is a fundamental tenderness.  This tenderness is what we discover in the "no man's land" outside of our habitual dualistic preoccupations.  This tenderness is Absolute Bodhicitta.  It is the method of Tonglen and the 6 paramitas and it is the fruition-- sunyata suffused with tenderness.  Actually one and the same.
This vulnerable soft spot is the last thing habitual mind wants to be-- that is why 500 arhats had heart attacks when they first heard the Buddha's teachings on the Bodhisattva Path. 

This retreat will be about having such heart attacks ourselves!

Cost: $595.00 includes room and board

Devotion Mahamudra

Prerequisites:  the previous Hinayana and Mahayana Retreats offered at DMC

 "You cannot have complete devotion without surrendering your heart.  Otherwise the whole thing becomes a business deal.  As long as you have any understanding of wakefulness, any understanding of the sitting practice of meditation, you always carry your vajra master with you all along.  That is why we talk about the mahamudra level of all-pervasive awareness.  With such awareness, everything that goes on is the vajra master.  So if your vajra master is far away, there is really no reason for sadness-- although some sadness can be useful, because it brings you back from arrogance."

   Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

In the hinayana,  shamatha/vipashyana training leads us to a coemergent panic attack.  We realize that our habitual attempt to solidify our experience falls apart again and again.  What co-emerges with that falling apart is a sense of complete openness and space--"no man's land," "nonreference point experience," "absolute symbolism."  By resting in that momentarily again and again we develop a familiarity with that basic space.  Out of that familiarity a sense of tenderness and non-territoriality develops.  We realize that the habitual projections of sems have no legs to stand on-- that no battle needs to be waged.  "The point is there is no point and so we can just let be." 

From this "soft spot" in our suit of armour we then encounter the world of "other" which is the bodhisattva's path of exchanging ourselves for other.  We realize that this experience of "open-hearted surgery without an anesthetic" is where the path leads us.  At this point in our journey we begin to understand that there is an authentic lineage and an authentic guru who manifests this path for us and our experience becomes unceasing.  Its almost like we just woke up to the fact that they are the living embodiment of this open space which is actually terrifying and at the same time absolutely true. 

Entering the gate of the Vajrayana is said to be like a snake entering a bamboo tube-- we either go towards this naked-hearted awareness or we try to hide from it by constructing elaborate defences or pre-occupations.  We discover through the path of guru yoga the adamantine truth of vajra sanity and are "engalloped" in the blessings (Jinlap)of the lineage.

Cost :

$595.00 includes room and board

Tba

Kagyu Ngondro Dathun: Beyond the Abhiseka Express

Ngondro is the preliminary practice for entering the main yidam practice of the Surmang Kagyu Lineage.  The main practice is Vajrayogini/Chakrasamvara.

Vajrayana is called the Diamond Vehicle.  It is the path of skillful method for realizing the ultimate view of the Buddha's teachings.  In terms of early or later teachings given by the historical Buddha-- all of these teachings express the ultimate view.  The various people who come in contact with these teachings have different aspirations and capacities for understanding and so the teachings have a multiplicity of skillful means.

In the Vajrayana we depend upon the blessings-- "jinlap."  This is the 'atmosphere" or "environment " one encounters in a teaching/practice mandala.  "Mandala" in this case refers to a group of people who organize themselves around a teacher and a lineage.

This is something we create together in order to recognize the nature of mind as direct experience and train in that recognition.

In this case we talk about the "mandala of the guru."  The guru is the pipeline to the blessings or "jinlap" of the lineage of Tilo, Naro, Marpa, etc.  This is a living transmission.  It has definite qualities-- all of which are manifested by Trungpa Rinpoche and the Vajra Regent.  Communal retreat is a great way to rouse this mandala.  Ngondro is the elaborate form of Guru Yoga.  We yoke our mind to the lineage energy/blessings through ngondro and we create a mandala where these blessings can be recognized as the nowness nature of our minds-- no different from Tilopa's presence/realization.

In this retreat we will engage each of the four ngondro practices in succession.  One each week of the four week Dathun.

This retreat is open to all members of the Surmang Kagyu Lineage.  I will not be giving pointing out or the "preliminary transmission" but will happily point you to  qualified teachers who will do that.  It is not necessary to have this transmission in order to engage this retreat.

This retreat includes room and board.

$3000.00

Tba