SPRING 2008
ENHANCED PRACTICE RETREATS
DZOGCHEN OSEL LING
A special series of Enhanced Practice Retreats is offered at Dzogchen Osel Ling near Austin, Texas each year for small groups of active students and members of Dzogchen Center. Although these retreats include teachings familiar to those of Dzogchen Center’s seasonal retreats, each provides the teacher with the opportunity to offer the essence of the teachings to a group of established students in a smaller, more focused practice setting. Therefore each session is characterized as an offering of “enhanced practice.”
These retreats also differ from our usual retreat settings in that the retreatants are expected to participate in each practice session; they are semi-cloistered in that the gates to the center are closed during the retreat and external communications are to be minimized; and some portion of the registration fees are for support of the teacher due to the limited size of the retreatant group. The retreats are based in the practice of Noble Silence although some may contain more workshop-type elements at the discretion of the teacher. There will be ample opportunity for questions and answer during each retreat.
These retreats are being offered on a continuing basis. The course descriptions are largely the same each year, but the content will vary as each teacher seeks to further the transmission by “spiraling ever deeper” over time. Retreatants are welcome to begin at any point. However, retreatants also are encouraged to continue to participate so that the “invitation to teach” implicit in their presence will be affected profoundly by their maturing appreciation and understanding of the teachings and the practices offered.
The 2008 Enhanced Practice Retreats at Dzogchen Osel Ling are:
REGISTRATION: One or more of these courses are likely to be oversubscribed. Registration is on a request basis - some
places are reserved for those enrolled in specific programs or courses of study and limits on how many of these retreats one may participate in will apply
depending on total interest. Dzogchen Osel Ling is open only to those who are members of Dzogchen Center and active participants in
Dzogchen Center retreats, community practice groups, and the like. Others known to the teacher may be admitted upon special request to
the registrar.
One may request registration online; deposits of approximately 50% of the course fee are due upon acceptance of your
registration. Once made, deposits are refundable, minus a processing fee of $100, as long as your place is
filled. Retreatants are provided a private or semi-private sleeping room with shared bath, three vegetarian meals per day,
tea breaks, and study/practice materials. Each retreat consists of two teaching sessions per day with the principal teacher
and multiple group practice sessions. Registration fees include a modest payment to the teacher as a traditional “invitation to teach.” However, dana remains the most important way for the retreatants to express their appreciation for the teaching and the teacher.
Registration is $895 except for the Dzogchen course, which is $1295.
Registration is by request only at www.dzogchen.org/retreats or you can contact the
registrar by emailing retreat@dzogchen.org.
Questions about the content and processes related to the individual retreats may be emailed to
enhancedretreats@dzogchen.org
for forwarding to the staff coordinator of the appropriate retreat.
Additional information about the Enhanced Practice Retreats
Advanced Dzogchen
with Lama Surya Das
FEBRUARY 23-29, 2008
Dzogchen, the Natural Great Perfection, is the ultimate teaching of Tibetan Buddhism. It directly introduces our inner Buddha, the inherent freedom, purity and perfection of being. Dzogchen is known for natural meditation according to the three principles of Natural Body, Natural Breath and Energy, and Natural HeartMind, which can be realized through the three vital points of just-sitting, just-breathing, and just-being awareness. This simple, direct-access approach to practice introduces the wakefulness, wholeness, completeness and perfection of our inner spiritual being, our innate Buddha nature, that is pure from the beginningless beginning.
Dzogchen is transmitted in terms of the Dzogchen View, Meditation and Action. The view, or sacred perspective, is a clear-sighted vision of things just as they are: infinite as boundless space, radiant, immaculate, and stainless from the first. The meditation of naked awareness inseparable with empty openness is imperturbable, like a mountain. The action of enlightened, beneficial activity is spontaneous, proactive, and compassionate, appropriate to the conditions and circumstances of everyday life, working inexhaustibly for the benefit of all living things.
During this retreat, Lama Surya Das will, as always, directly introduce the essential nature of mind, and help us to recognize our innate Buddha nature. Although there will be multiple teachings, the retreat is based in the actual practice of Dzogchen. This retreat provides the opportunity to replicate the traditional transmission of the Nyingmapa: the oral pith instruction received directly from the teacher, while living and practicing with a relatively small group of committed students residing together at his home and hermitage.
Each year, the Advanced Dzogchen Retreat is based in the non-dual awareness practice called Trekchod, or (“cutting or seeing through”), by which our innate Buddha Mind – Rigpa – is effortlessly unveiled. Significant emphasis will also be placed on Rushen, (“subtle discernment”), the special preliminary practice of Dzogchen, while Togal (“total vision or being there”) will also be explored to some extent. In this way, depending on the needs and preparation of the retreatant group, Lama Surya Das will continue his transmission of these three great practices of Dzogchen.
Gesture of Awareness
with Charles Genoud
April 12-19, 2008
Gesture of Awareness is a unique approach to the experience of presence: the most essential, and most overlooked, fact of our existence. In sheer presence we are no longer caught by the story-making through which we exhaust ourselves. Traditionally, seeking such freedom, people have engaged in the practice of sitting meditation. Gesture of Awareness practice, however, introduces a similar kind of experience in the less contrived context of ordinary activities, such as taking a step, opening one’s eyes, or touching another person. Awakened to the immediacy of the instant, one opens to a global experiencing of one’s own being. The deep opportunity and grace of Gesture of Awareness cannot be measured. And for students of Buddhism, and for all those interested in spiritual practice, it can help open you to the most simple, and immediate, art of all — the art of being yourself, no matter what.
Charles Genoud will transmit his unique exploration of non-duality, blending meditation techniques and sensory awareness. This course is intended both for those who wish to themselves present these techniques to others as well as for those who simply wish to incorporate a deeper understanding of Gesture of Awareness in their own practice. The course consists of presentation of techniques and practices as offered in other settings with the added element of extensive opportunities to explore the theory and philosophy of Gesture of Awareness in relation to one’s own experience. Charles Genoud will also share many of his experiences in developing Gesture of Awareness in a manner that will allow participants to anticipate issues that they might encounter in their own practice and presentation.
Note: a block of rooms has been reserved for those who are participating in the Special Teacher Training Module, however you must confirm
your registration and complete your financial arrangements with the registrar. Those who would like more information about this program
and the requirements for participation should contact gesture@dzogchen.org.
Natural Love and Wisdom
with Lama John Makransky
MAY 31-JUNE 6, 2008
The bodhisattva path of enlightenment is dedicated to freedom. Through it, we learn to be freed from suffocating self-concern, freed to unleash our inner potential of love and compassion for self and others. Such a path does not result in a solitary attainment that sets us apart. Rather, it uncovers our basic undividedness from others by bringing out our capacity to take joy in their very being, to commune with them in love, and to be present to them beyond thought of separation. In this way, we actually learn to bless this world.
Dzogchen transmission in this retreat will emphasize the powers of love, compassion, reverence, joy and creativity that are discovered as we awaken to our fundamental pure awareness, the natural wisdom within the nature of our minds. Unconditional, all-inclusive love most directly expresses the unconditioned and all-inclusive quality of our mind’s nature, our innate wisdom. By deeply receiving the love that has always pervaded our world, we are taken beyond ourselves, are reunified with the fundamental awareness that undergirds such love, and released into deepest wisdom. This process is further supported by reverently offering all our experiences to the innate pure awareness that is operative within them.
Through such skillful means, the Buddha wisdom within us is freed to bless many others through the pervasive power of its spontaneous love and compassion. Thus, the practices of reverent receptivity, offering and union that have released generations of Tibetan practitioners into deepest freedom are made newly accessible for Westerners, and the bodhisattva path can come truly alive.
Lama John will help students explore how the seeming boundary between meditation practice and ordinary life may be penetrated, so life with their partners, children, neighbors, co-workers, and clients may be increasingly rediscovered as their very path of awakening. This retreat is intended both for practice leaders of natural love and wisdom and for others who want to deepen their experience having done such practices for at least a year.
ORGANIC AWARENESS
with Lama Choying Palmo
June 14-21, 2008
Organic Awareness is a means of enhancing our alert mindfulness and integrating it with our daily life. In the Tibetan tradition, the most profound meditation is not about "not thinking", but rather begins, emerges and develops right within the fertile field of moment-by-moment experience. Drawing from the teachings of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions of Dzogchen and Mahamudra, Lama Palmo will discuss the concept of "organic awareness" and explore how we can use this concept to deepen and enhance our meditation through direct experience. We will do this by “just sitting,” using our bodies in movement or postures, engaging in tantric methods of visualization and ritual, or voicing sacred sound in mantra practice.
This retreat will emphasize meditation practice and deepening the Dzogchen view. In the teaching sessions and guided meditation, we will explore how to gradually discover concentration, relaxation and openness in the midst of ordinary experience. Retreatants will learn how to use thought, emotion, suffering and sense experience -- often perceived by us as the "enemies" of mental peace -- as supports for awakening. Mind instructions will be alternated with enhancement exercises from the ancient lineage of Tibetan Yoga: a system of breath energy and bodywork that facilitates the discovery of innate wisdom.
Every morning, retreatants choosing to participate will gather outside in the temple courtyard to engage in communal yoga practice. Retreatants will have ample opportunity throughout the day to deepen their meditation through both solitary and group meditation sesssions, with plenty of individual guidence and support. This retreat provides a unique opportunity to meditate in an intimate, peaceful environment with other meditators of all levels, an ideal backdrop to learn or deepen profound and transformative meditation.
