WINTER AWAKENING RETREAT WITH LAMA SURYA DAS The New Year has always been a time for recollection of where we have been for the last 12 months, and for resolution--to direct our lives, our actions and our minds in a positive direction. Spending the first days of the New Year together in retreat, in the silence of meditation, gazing at the endless flow of the great Hudson River--what better way could there be to refresh our spirits and renew our practice.
Lama Surya Das will be there, our reliable teacher, to point out the evanescent mystery so close that we always seem to miss it--the "sky-like nature of mind." He will make us laugh during lively question and answer sessions, and he will be available to meet with students for private interviews.
This year will also begin with a special visit to our retreat from Mirabai Bush, an old friend of Lama Surya, co-founder of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, a founding board member of the Seva Foundation, and co-author, with Ram Dass, of Compassion in Action: Setting Out on the Path of Service.
New students will arrive, to discover that "Dzogchen is more fun." Old students will settle into their cushions, deepening their practice, opening their eyes to the endless flow of experience. Together we will open our hearts, recalling the sufferings of all sentient beings, and together we will resolve to make this retreat, and this coming year of practice, a source of happiness and liberation--for ourselves and for all other beings.
We hope you will be able to join us for this Winter Awakening with Lama Surya Das.
David Patt
Executive Director
Dzogchen Center
 THE GIFT OF MEDITATION
Breathing, relaxing and smiling, settling, arriving, letting yourself arrive, you're already here it seems. But has your energy arrived here and landed in this place? Collect your scattered thoughts and energies. Connect with the present moment, through breathing as an anchor to presence, immediacy, to nowness, calming and clearing the heart mind. Open to the wisdom of allowing effortless effort to reveal itself through the wisdom of openness, acceptance, spiritual detachment, keenly caring and interested yet detached, observing, with the bigger perspective, the ultimate stance or outlook, the great perfection, the great mudra, awareness alone beyond outside and inside, good or bad, self or other, awareness alone, naked awareness - this moment the only moment, this breath, the only breath. Marvelous. Paying attention, calm and clear, awake, take care, stay aware, aware of inhaling while breathing in, aware of exhaling while breathing out, watching the exhalation, letting everything else go by on the stream of consciousness, the river of experience, without judgment or evaluation, without pushing or pulling - mindfulness of breathing, breath awareness, the basic meditation exercise for being more present, cultivating awareness, awareness of all. And third, let it be, leave yourself alone for a change, simply get to know yourself as you are, as it is, just sitting, just breathing, just being aware, attentive, mindful of thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions, not picking and choosing. Aware, choiceless awareness, pure presence, radiant clarity, the natural meditation of the natural great perfection, leaving things just as they are, Buddha said there's Nirvanic peace in things left just as they are. In this meditation just be and remain at home, at ease, luminous, serene, clear, aware.
Lama Surya Das
RETREAT PERSPECTIVE - A ONE ROOM SCHOOLHOUSE
Retreat experience has been the catalyst on my path from the first step. I think retreats are like one-room schoolhouses with all ages and all levels of knowledge and understanding represented. The teacher and the teachings are the common denominators, but the most interesting aspect is the way learning occurs. Just as in the schoolhouse, each individual hears what he or she is able to understand. Progress on the path results from a three-fold dynamic synergy. The teacher/student dynamic, the student/student dynamic, and the group dynamic provide a supercharged learning environment. Those who know least feel comfortable and accepted, free from expectations of public performance of any kind. In simultaneously communicating teachings to all "grades" on multiple levels, the accomplished teacher ensures that the more advanced students refresh themselves on the basics and move deeper. The newer students, unaware of the multiplicity of depths, glimpse the path ahead gradually in guided practice. The skillful teacher bridges any gaps by providing time for questions and answers. It is truly astonishing to witness. Lama Surya is a master.
Excerpted from THE BACKWARDS BUDDHIST
by Barbara Fleming
THIS NEWSLETTER IS PUBLISHED BY STUDENTS OF LAMA SURYA DAS.
Submissions sought for current and future features:
1. Articles from students who wish to share their Dharma journey with the rest of us. Articles are of necessity brief, but can be quite powerful in creating the spirit of unity within this larger Sangha.
2. A Question/Answer opportunity. Questions received by the editor will be researched and submitted to senior practitioners for review and then to Lama Surya for approval. The answer will then appear in the next newsletter.
3. "Dzogchen speak" section for pesky terms that arise spontaneously and seem to defy self-liberation. Using cluster definitions from Lama Surya's teachings, we will try to develop a vocabulary list over time from words you submit.
4. Dharma poetry or Dohas or Tsok songs penned by you. Original works only please for now. Again, relative brevity is best.
5. STAFF DIRECTORY for Dzogchen Center - who to contact for what.
Suggestions for additional columns and submission of materials for any of the above mentioned features are heartily encouraged.
Lama Surya's newest blog on Huffington Post LIVING section discusses his thoughts on seeing the exhibition of Jung's classic Red Book at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City.
Click here to read the blog post.
DIRECTORY CONTACT LIST
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - David Patt
NEWSLETTER - Barb Fleming | IN THIS EDITION: WINTER AWAKENIng RETREAt with Special Guest Teacher Mirabai Bush Saturday, January 2 to Sunday, January 10
AT GARRISON RETREAT CENTER
Hudson River view
Walking paths
View back toward the Monastery RETREAT REGISTRATION
NYOSHUL KHENPO RINPOCHE
"The Mirror of Essential Points"
By Nyoshul Khenpo
Look inward at your own mind!
It seems quite exciting, when not examined.
But when examined, there is nothing to it.
Appearing without being, it is nothing but empty.
It cannot be identified saying, "That's it!"
But is evanescent and elusive like mist.
Look at whatever may appear In any of the ten directions.
No matter how it may appear.
The thing in itself, it's very nature,
Is the sky-like nature of mind,
Beyond the projection and dissolution of thought and concept.
Excerpted from "The Mirror of Essential Points" in Natural Great Perfection by Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche and Lama Surya Das
(Snow Lion, 1995)
Sangha News
We all go home from retreat to our daily lives and individual practice, but some of us are lucky enough to have a local group of fellow practitioners to meet with and practice together. The Dzogchen Center wants to help all these local sanghas scattered around the country to get together, develop as a group, and reach out to their communities. In the future we hope to provide local sanghas with teachers, teaching resources such as books and CDs, and publicity support.
We also are moving toward using digital media to create virtual retreats, podcasts and seminars. To begin with, we want this newsletter to be a venue for local sanghas to communicate with each other, and with the many individuals, all around the world, who receive this in their email.
We invite you to send us news, articles, event announcements and ideas that tell us what you are doing in your community to cultivate the spirit of awakening. Let us know who you are, where and when you meet--maybe there is someone sitting in the house next door reading this right now, who would like to come to your group meditation.
WINTER AWAKENING HAIKU
Silent snow flakes fall
Land on free-flowing waters
Awakening all.
Urgyen Padma Yeshe
VOLUNTEERS
It takes many hearts, hands, and minds to make a retreat run smoothly, even with John Dean as Retreat Manager. Many retreatants have found it grounding and a deeply meaningful addition to their retreat practice to take responsibility for a simple practical task sometime during their retreat experience. Please contact John Dean if you feel you could help out with any of the specific opportunities listed below or others.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
REQUISITES -
enthusiasm
reliability
availability
responsibility
Retreat Positions
1. Meditation hall set-up
2. Hall Maintenance
3. Altar duties
4. Flowers
5. Water for teachers
6. Bell ringers
7. Take down after closing
Year round positions:
CURRENT OPENINGS for persons interested in maintaining:
1. Lama's Prayer List
2. Membership - lists, dues, updates, etc.
Special skills
If you have interests or skills you think might be useful to the Dzogchen Center, please contact John Dean or David Patt. |
