With John Myrdhin Reynolds (Lama Vajranatha)

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February 10-11, 2024

Buddhist Meditation Practices Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen

Weekend Seminar via Zoom (Saturday 15-19 and Sunday 14-18, with breaks).
From the very beginning, the practice of meditation has been at the heart of the Buddhist process of self-discovery and the realization of the individual’s potential. In terms of meditation practice, the Sutra teachings of the Buddha focus on developing concentration in order to realize a calm state of mind (shamata) and higher insight into how the mind works (vipashyana). In this way, the individual may find peace of mind and relax stress and tensions, as well as develop higher altered states of consciousness (dhyana) and certain psychic powers and capacities (siddhis). In terms of Tantric meditation practices, instead of focusing on a single static object of meditation, one introduces into the practice the elements of sound and movement, thereby entering into the creating of a virtual reality by way of intense visualization in order to awaken certain latent capacities within the individual. Finally, in terms of Dzogchen and Mahamudra, the practitioner proceeds beyond visualization, and even meditation itself, in order to discover and experience firsthand the Nature of Mind (chittata) and the intrinsic awareness (vidya) that characterizes it. This innate, primordially enlightened Buddha Nature at the centre and core of one’s being, this uncreated spark of light, lies beyond and transcends mind and the mental processes of thought and emotion, even the suffering that characterizes Samsara. This seminar will introduce and practice meditations found at these three levels in terms of how they may be pursued in daily life and employed to overcome everyday problems and conflicts.

For information and registration, contact martihum@gmail.com

March 2-3, 2024

Meditation and Beyond Meditation in View of Dzogchen and Mahamudra

Weekend Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).

What is the difference between meditation (bhavana) and contemplation (samahita)? Both the practice of Dzogchen in the Old Tantra Tradition of the Nyingmapa school of Tibet and the practice of Mahamudra in the New Tantra Traditions of the other schools, Sakyapa, Kagyudpa, Gelugpa, go beyond meditation and reveal an unconditioned state of consciousness that transcends and lies beyond the ordinary workings of the mind and the normal thought process. Both traditions represent the culminating stage of the meditative process of transformation in Tantric sadhana, and moreover, both speak of this in terms of Four Yogas. This seminar will look into the practices of Dzogchen Semde and Mahamudra in relation to this.

For information and registration, contact martihum@gmail.com

Seminar Schedule 2003

September 31- October 1, 2023

Dzogchen – Discovering Buddhahood Within Oneself

Weekend Zoom Seminar 3-8 pm, with breaks

How does one attain Buddhahood, which is the ultimate goal of the spiritual path of the Dharma and which means liberation from further suffering in Samsara? According to the Sutra system of Mahayana Buddhism, one initially generates th Bodhichitta, the intention to attain enlightenment, then intensely practices the six paramitas  for three immeasurable kalpas, consisting of countless lifetimes, and finally attains |Buddha enlightenment. The Tantra system of Vajrayana Buddhism, however, greatly accelerates this evolutionary process by way of taking the goal and making that into the practice of the path, that is to say, by meditating upon oneself as a Yidam meditation deity representing the visible manifestation of enlightened awareness. But Dzogchen sees the whole matter quite differently. Buddhahood has been primordially present within us from the very beginning, not just potentially but actually, as our own Nature of Mind. However, in order to discover this Nature of Mind at the core of our being, we must first discover in our immediate experience what is meant by “mind.” Only then can a direct introduction  to the intrinsic awareness that characterizes the Nature of Mind becomes truly possible once we have acquired certain experiences in meditation practice,  This seminar will place the emphasis  on actual meditation practices for encountering our intrinsic awareness  and how these methods  may be employed  in everyday life dealing with negative emotions and present day difficulties.

For further information and registration, please consult our page on Facebook.

Past Seminars:

March 25-26, 2023

The Padma Heruka Hayagriva, both Passionate and Wrathful

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 16-20, with breaks)

The peaceful form of Avalokiteshvara, white in colour and with four arms, and closely associated with his six-syllable mantra, which purifies the six destinies of rebirth, is quite familiar to us in the West. Although Avalokiteshvara, who may assume countless forms and guises, may appear as a Bodhisattva active in the world, he is actually an enlightened being beyond Samsara, belonging to the Padma Kula, “Lotus Family,” headed by the Buddha Amitabha, and associated with the western direction. However, his wrathful aspect is Hayagriva, the Padma Heruka, who is associated with the magical functions of attraction and enchantment, and is considered the male partner of the goddess Kurukulla, the red form of the female Buddha Tara. Both of taem are patrons of witchcraft and sexual magic. Taking the form of a Yaksha nature spirit, red in colour and terrifying in manifestation, with his “wild horse dance,” he subdues and tramples upon demons and evil spirits. As a Vajrakrodha, or wrathful deity, he functions to remove obstacles and obstructions on the spiritual path and in ordinary life. He counteracts natural disasters and plagues, as well as working to transform the negative energies of hatred and anger that afflict our world. This seminar will focus on the practice of Hayagriva accompanied by Vajrapani and Garuda from the Dudjom Tersar cycle.
For the access code, please consult our fan page on Facebook.
Donation 50 euro.

April 22-23, 2023

The Padma Heruka Hayagriva, his Exceedingly Wrathful Aspect

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 16-20, with breaks)

In this seminar, we continue to explain the practices of Hayagriva, the wrathful aspect of Avalokiteshvara. However, it is not necessary to have attended the previous seminar. This seminar will focus on the exceeding wrathful aspect of this meditation deity, black in colour and riding upon a nine-headed pig of the cremation grounds. He is in union with the dark goddess Krodhi Kali, or Troma, the patroness of the Chöd Rite. This Mahakala form of Hayagriva especially functions to protect against the plagues, epidemics, floods, wild fires, wars, and other disasters afflicting this degenerate age of the Kali Yuga.
For the access code, please consult our fan page on Facebook.
Donation 50 euro.

May 27-28, 2023

The Queen of Great Bliss according to the Khandro Thugthik

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 16-20, with breaks)

As with other major Terma cycles, the Dudjom Tersar has both male and female aspects of the Guru, in terms of manifestations that are outer, inner, secret, and exceedingly secret. The male aspects are known as Yab-ka and female as Yum-ka. Here, in the case of this Yum-ka, the outer aspect is the Yoginî form of the Tibetan princess Yeshe Tsogyal, known as Dechen Gyalmo, “the Queen of Great Bliss.” Her inner aspect is the enchanting witch goddess Kurukulla, her secret aspect is the fierce wisdom Dakini Simhamukha with her lion’s head, and her exceeding secret aspect is Krodhi Kali, goddess of the cremation ground. In general, she functions as the Vajrayogini, the initiatrix of all Yogis into the esoteric practices of the Higher Tantras. The practitioner is introduced to the Dakini as the living embodiment of primordial wisdom during the course of the third initiation, the Wisdom Empowerment. This seminar will rely upon the practices and commentaries found in the Terma cycle of the Khandro Thugthik.
For the access code, please consult our fan page on Facebook.
Donation 50 euro.

June 17-18, 2023

Magical Practices of the Heruka and the Dakini

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 16-20, with breaks)

Both the Padma Heruka, Hayagriva, the red wrathful form of Avalokiteshvara, and his Consort, the love goddess and Wisdom Dakini, Kurukulla, the red form of Tara, are closely associated with the practices of witchcraft and magic, especially the red magic of magnetic attraction, subjugation, and influencing others, both individuals and events. This seminar will look into some of these practices of the Heruka and the Dakini.
For the access code, please consult our fan page on Facebook.
Donation 50 euro.

January 7-8, 2023

Tantra, Magic, and Sex: Dzogrim Practice

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 16-20, with breaks)

Sadhana, or Tantric transformation meditation practice, has two principal phases in terms of Higher Tantra in the Buddhist tradition. First, there is Kyerim, or the visualization process, where the practitioner focuses upon visualizing the Yidam meditation deity in its mandala palace in order to access and actualize its powers, capacities, and qualities within one’s stream of consciousness. This transformation is then stabilized by way of Mantrajapa, or mantra recitation. When siddhis, psychic and spiritual attainments, become realized, as indicated by certain signs, the practitioner is then able to proceed to engage in magical action practices. However, there is also the question of how the meditation deity not only looks and sounds, but also how it feels in itself in terms of all its senses. In the Higher Tantra, this second phase is the function of Dzogrim meditation (nishpanna-krama), the stage of perfection. Here the principal practice is that of Chandalî-yoga, the generating of psychic heat and sensual pleasure within the human body, by what is more generally known as Kundalini. This practice may further include Thablam or Karmamudra sexual practice with a partner of the opposite sex. This leads to the realization of the unification of bliss and emptiness, or Detong Yeshe, the culmination of Tantric practice. In this seminar, we shall draw upon Dudjom Rinpoche’s commentaries to the practice of the Khandro Thugthik Cycle, “The Essence of the Mind of the Dakini.
For the access code, please consult our fan page on Facebook.
Donation 50 euro.

February 18-19, 2023

Jnâna Yoga—Dzogchen Practice according to the Khandro Thugthik

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 16-20, with breaks)

The introduction of the practitioner to the practices of the Higher Tantras, namely, Kyerim, Tsalung, Dzogrim, and Dzogchen, is presented by way of four empowerments or initiations. The fourth empowerment introduces the practitioner by words and display of symbols to the practice of Dzogchen, “the Great Perfection,” also known as Jnana Yoga, the Yoga of the Primordial Wisdom. This entails a direct introduction to intrinsic awareness and the Nature of Mind. For this, the seminar will follow the commentary by Dudjom Rinpoche on the Terma cycle of the Khandro Thugthik, “the Essence of the Mind of the Dâkinî.” Here are found key instructions from this master on the practices of Tregchod and Thodgal, for the self-discovery and realization of one’s own original being in terms of Buddha enlightenment.
For the access code, please consult our fan page on Facebook.
Donation 50 euro.

January 22-23, 2022

The Essential Meaning of Dzogchen and the Path of Self-Liberation, according to HH Düdjom Rinpoche

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).
Dzogchen, “the Great Perfection”, which teaches the Path of Self-Liberation, is traditionally regarded in Tibet as the highest and most profound teaching of the Buddha. Introduced into Tibet in the eighth century of our era by the great Buddhist Tantric master Padmasambhava, who came from the country of Uddiyana in Central Asia, Dzogchen has been preserved until the present day, especially among the Nyingmapa and Kagyudpa schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In terms of meditation practice, Dzogchen distinguishes between “the mind”, or the normal thought process that is cyclical and samsaric in nature, and “the Nature of Mind”, which is the primordial state of enlightenment that lies beyond all time, conditioning, and causality. Although inconceivable by the finite intellect and inexpressible in words, as the very ground of our existence as living beings, this Natural State can be directly encountered within our immediate experience. By way of direct introduction and meditation practice, this primordial, yet everpresent, state of Buddhahood, which resides at the very core of every individual living being, is revealed like the brilliant face of the sun in the sky when the dark clouds of ignorance and delusion are dissipated.
HH Düdjom Rinpoche, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje (1904-1987), as a scholar, a practitioner, a revealer of Termas, or hidden treasure texts, and elected head of the Nyingmapa school, was acknowledged everywhere as one of the greatest masters of Dzogchen in recent times, following in the lineage of Longchenpa and Jigmed Lingpa. In this seminar, we will examine his brief commentary on the Three Statements of Garab Dorje, and also his “Alchemy of Realization” (ri-chos) which provides instructions on how to make a retreat for the practice of Dzogchen, but also how to integrate meditation practice into our daily life.

For the access code, consult the Facebook fan page.

February 26-27, 2022

The Essential Meaning of Dzogchen according to HH Düdjom Rinpoche

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).

This seminar is a continuation of the previous one, although it is not required to have attended before. We continue discussing the Dzogchen teachings of Dudjom Rinpoche from his “Alchemy of Realization.” Here this will be supplimented by the Guru Yoga practice according to the Dzogchen view. We will also consider Rinpoche’s teaching on the intergrating of the Three Spaces.

For the access code, consult the Facebook fan page.

March, 2022

The Laughter of the Dark Goddess—The Practice of Troma Nagmo, the Queen of the Cremation Grounds

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).
According to the traditions of pre-Christian Old Europe, the Great Goddess possessed a cauldron embodying her power over life and death. Those who were dipped into her cauldron were reborn and rejuvinated. The dark aspect of this Goddess dances between worlds and other dimensions of reality, thus she manifests in the liminal expance of the cremantion grounds, the place of death and rebirth. Although she appears in many different cultures under many different names, this seminar will examine her place in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition of Tibet. Known in India as Kali, in Tibet she is Krodhi Kali, the wrathful black one, or in Tibetan as Troma Nagmo. As a Wisdom Dakini, she represents the shadow side of the Queen of the Dakinis Vajravarahi, so her symbolism is rather gothic. Nevertheless, despite her wrathful aspect, she is the embodiment of the Perfection of Wisdom, or Prajnaparamita, the feminine side of Buddha enlightenment. This seminar focuses on her practices found in the Düdjom Tersar.

For the access code, consult the Facebook page.

April 23-24, 2022

The Laughter of the Dark Goddess—the Queen of the Cremation Grounds

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).

This seminar is a continuation of the previous one, although it is not required to have attended before. One principal function of her practice is to overcome all fears and anxieties, especially the fear of death, annihilation, and nothingness. This is the case not only with her sadhana meditation practice, but with the activities of Chöd and Lü-jyin, the offering of one’s own material body as a feast for the spirits. Here the practitioner assumes the form of the Dark Goddess to actually offer the four feasts on different occasions, because she transcends the extremes of birth and death.
For the access code, consult the Facebook page.

May 28-29, 2022

The Three Series of Dzogchen Teachings—Semde, Longde, and Upadesha

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).

Dzogchen, “the Great Perfection,” which teaches the path of self-liberation, in contrast to Sutra, the path of renunciation, and Tantra, the path of transformation, is traditionally regarded in the Nyingmapa and Kagyüdpa schools of Tibetan Buddhism as the highest and most profound teaching of the Buddha. Within Dzogchen, there exist three series of these teachings regarding practice, namely, the Semde or “mind series,” the Longde, or “space series, and Upadesha, ot “the secret oral insruction Series.” In this seminar, we will consider the basic practices found in these three series for entering into Rigpa, the state of Dzogchen.
For the access code, consult the Facebook page.

June 11-12, 2022

The Principal Magical Action Practice from the Vajrakilaya Cycle

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).

In the Nyingmapa tradition of Tibet, Vajrakilaya is the most popular wrathful meditation deity practice, having been the personal practice of Padmasambhava himself, the founder of this tradition. Within this, there is distinguished Töd-la, or the higher spiritual practices of sadhana where the practitioner accesses and augments within oneself spiritual energies. And there is Me-lay, or the lower ritual and magical practices in order to counter, subdue, and transform negative energies. This can be accomplished once one has accessed and accumulated within oneself by way of meditation practice sufficient spiritual energy and capacity, or siddhi. This seminar will introduce these practices according to the Düdjom Tersar.
For the access code, consult the Facebook page.

September 17-18, 2022

Magical Practices of Wisdom Dakini Kurukulla from the Kurukula Kalpa

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15.00-19.00)

The Wisdom Dakini Kurukulla is not only the goddess of love and sex in the Buddhist tradition of Tibet, she is also the patron goddess of magic and witchcraft. In a previous seminar, we have considered the figure of the Dakini Kurukulla in the general context of higher spiritual practice, or Seva-sadhana, where the ultimate goal is enlightenment and liberation from suffering in Samsara. However, in this seminar we will look into her practice serving more immediate and practical worldly goals, namely, her associated magical actions (lay-jyor). This would include healing illness, pacifying situations, increasing wealth and prosperity, attracting and influencing others, as well as subduing, vanquishing, and transforming negative energies and evil spirits. Whereas Western tradition only distinguishes white and black magic, the Buddhist tradition recognizes four different types of magic associated with four colours and four different directions. Kurukulla is particularly associated with Red Magic, linked with the western direction, and entailing practices and rites for cultivating the powers of attracting, summoning, influencing, magnetizing, and so on. In this seminar we will look at some of these meditation and ritual methods connected with Kurukulla and her colleagues such as the Padma Heruka Hayagriva, as well as her attendant guardians Mahadeva and Uma. For this purpose, we shall rely on her magical practice manual, the Kurukulla Kalpa, as well as those of Miphan Rinpoche and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo.

For the access code, consult our fan page on Face Book.
Donation 50€

October 22-23, 2022

Protection and Reversal Magical Practices with the Wisdom Dakini Simhamukha

Sambhala Center, Budapest, Saturday and Sunday, In-person Seminar, 3-7 pm.

Zoom Seminar, 2-8 pm with breaks.

The lion-faced Wisdom Dakini Simhamukha specializes in protecting practitioners of the Buddha Dharma and the reversing of magical and psychic attacks sent against individuals by hostile forces. This seminar will investigate some of these methods for psychic self-defence and protection, as well as the deflection and reversal of negative energies.

October 30, 2022

Fate of the Soul: Out-of-Body Experiences and Soul Retrieval

Sambhala Center, Budapest, afternoon talk. Free on Zoom.

Tibetan Buddhism and Shamanism postulates the existence of the “La” or soul as the energetic basis of our human emotional life. On occasion this soul can separate from our physical body, for example, during sleep and dreaming, fever, illness, and out-of-body experiences. Tibetan Lamas also practice soul retrieval in order to summon and reintegrate lost and separated fragments of the soul. We shall examine some aspects of these phenomena in this afternoon talk.

November 5-6, 2022

Prosperity and Success Magical Practices with Goddess Lakshmi and Ganesha in Tibetan Buddhism

Sambhala Center, Budapest, Saturday and Sunday, In-person Seminar, 3-7 pm,

Zoom Seminar, 2-8 pm with breaks.

Lakshmi and Ganapati (Ganesha) are two of the most popular meditation deities in Asia employed for success and prosperity in these times of economic stress and turmoil. Ganapati stands at the cross-roads and inspires every new activity with his blessings, pointing toward success in that activity in the future. This beautiful goddess, Laksmi or Lady Luck, may grant her favour, good fortune, abundance, and prosperity to her practitioners. This seminar will look at some of the methods in terms of meditation and rituals employed in Tibetan Buddhism associated with these two wealth deities.

December 10-11, 2022

Tantra, Magic, and Sex in Meditation and Ritual according to Tibetan Buddhism

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 14.00-18.00, with breaks)

Nowadays in the West, when we hear the word “Tantra,” we think it means sex, especially enjoyable sexual practices. But in Ancient India, the art of realizing an enjoyable sex life was known as Kama Shastra, of which the Kama Sutra is the best known text of such practices. However, Tantra is traditionally said to represent Moksha Shastra, the science of liberation, which is a spiritual goal. Literally, the term Tantra means “continuity,” and what is continuous here is the manifestation of energy and its transformations. And so, Tantra basically means working with energies, gross and subtle, that are available to human beings who are seeking the spiritual goals of liberation and enlightenment. Indeed, sex is only one of these forms of energy available, as attractive and interesting as it may be. However, Magic also means working with energies, commanding and manipulating them, bringing them under the control of will, in order to bring about changes in consciousness and also one’s immediate environment. What aspects of sexuality and sextual practice do we find in Magic and in Buddhist Tantra? How does sexual practices contribute to spiritual realization? This seminar will examine the relationship between Tantra and Magic, and also the employment of sexual practices in what is known as “Sex Magick.”

For the access code, please consult our fan page on Facebook.
Donation 50 euro.

December 29, 2022

The Annual Ritual Cycle in Buddhism and Christianity

Talk via zoom, free access, euro time 5-7 evening

As major spiritual traditions there exist many differences, but also some similarities between Buddhism and Christianity, including the ritual cycle during the year. Certain festivals in both traditions mark important times of the yearly cycle. The vernal equinox corresponds to the spring season and the rebirth of nature following the winter season. This is the time of the Annunciation (or conception), the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection of Christ. The Buddhist festival (düchen) a little later celebrates the birth, Enlightenment, and Parinirvana of the Buddha all on the same day. Midwinter and the winter solstice marks the commemoration of the birth of Christ, but was also the time of the Roman harvest festival, the Saturnalia, and December 25th was originally the birthday of the sun and the birth of the solar god Mithras. Both the Buddha and Christ were very much marked by solar symbolism. This talk will look into this matter and following it there would be the opportunity for questions relating to this and previous seminars.

For further information, contact our Facebook fan page.

February 26-27, 2022

The Essential Meaning of Dzogchen according to HH Düdjom Rinpoche

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).

This seminar is a continuation of the previous one, although it is not required to have attended before. We continue discussing the Dzogchen teachings of Dudjom Rinpoche from his “Alchemy of Realization.” Here this will be supplimented by the Guru Yoga practice according to the Dzogchen view. We will also consider Rinpoche’s teaching on the intergrating of the Three Spaces.

For the access code, consult the Facebook fan page.

January 22-23, 2022

The Essential Meaning of Dzogchen and the Path of Self-Liberation, according to
HH Düdjom Rinpoche

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).

Dzogchen, “the Great Perfection”, which teaches the Path of Self-Liberation, is traditionally regarded in Tibet as the highest and most profound teaching of the Buddha. Introduced into Tibet in the eighth century of our era by the great Buddhist Tantric master Padmasambhava, who came from the country of Uddiyana in Central Asia, Dzogchen has been preserved until the present day, especially among the Nyingmapa and Kagyudpa schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In terms of meditation practice, Dzogchen distinguishes between “the mind”, or the normal thought process that is cyclical and samsaric in nature, and “the Nature of Mind”, which is the primordial state of enlightenment that lies beyond all time, conditioning, and causality. Although inconceivable by the finite intellect and inexpressible in words, as the very ground of our existence as living beings, this Natural State can be directly encountered within our immediate experience. By way of direct introduction and meditation practice, this primordial, yet everpresent, state of Buddhahood, which resides at the very core of every individual living being, is revealed like the brilliant face of the sun in the sky when the dark clouds of ignorance and delusion are dissipated.
HH Düdjom Rinpoche, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje (1904-1987), as a scholar, a practitioner, a revealer of Termas, or hidden treasure texts, and elected head of the Nyingmapa school, was acknowledged everywhere as one of the greatest masters of Dzogchen in recent times, following in the lineage of Longchenpa and Jigmed Lingpa. In this seminar, we will examine his brief commentary on the Three Statements of Garab Dorje, and also his “Alchemy of Realization” (ri-chos) which provides instuctions on how to make a retreat for the practice of Dzogchen, but also how to integrate meditation practice into our daily life.
Contact: For the access code, consult the Facebook fan page.

February 26-27, 2022

The Essential Meaning of Dzogchen according to HH Düdjom Rinpoche

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).

This seminar is a continuation of the previous one, although it is not required to have attended before. We continue discussing the Dzogchen teachings of Dudjom Rinpoche from his “Alchemy of Realization.” Here this will be supplimented by the Guru Yoga practice according to the Dzogchen view. We will also consider Rinpoche’s teaching on the intergrating of the Three Spaces.
Contact: For the access code, consult the Facebook fan page.

March, 2022

The Laughter of the Dark Goddess—The Practice of Troma Nagmo, the Queen of the Cremation Grounds

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).

According to the traditions of pre-Christian Old Europe, the Great Goddess possessed a cauldron embodying her power over life and death. Those who were dipped into her cauldron were reborn and rejuvinated. The dark aspect of this Goddess dances between worlds and other dimensions of reality, thus she manifests in the liminal expance of the cremantion grounds, the place of death and rebirth. Although she appears in many different cultures under many different names, this seminar will examine her place in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition of Tibet. Known in India as Kali, in Tibet she is Krodhi Kali, the wrathful black one, or in Tibetan as Troma Nagmo. As a Wisdom Dakini, she represents the shadow side of the Queen of the Dakinis Vajravarahi, so her symbolism is rather gothic. Nevertheless, despite her wrathful aspect, she is the embodiment of the Perfection of Wisdom, or Prajnaparamita, the feminine side of Buddha enlightenment. This seminar focuses on her practices found in the Düdjom Tersar.
Contact: For the access code, consult the Facebook page.

April, 2022

The Laughter of the Dark Goddess—the Queen of the Cremation Grounds

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).

This seminar is a continuation of the previous one, although it is not required to have attended before. One principal function of her practice is to overcome all fears and anxieties, especially the fear of death, annihilation, and nothingness. This is the case not only with her sadhana meditation practice, but with the activities of Chöd and Lü-jyin, the offering of one’s own material body as a feast for the spirits. Here the practitioner assumes the form of the Dark Goddess to actually offer the four feasts on different occasions, because she transcends the extremes of birth and death.
Contact: For the access code, consult the Facebook page.

May, 2022

The Principal Magical Practices from the Vajrakilaya Cycle

June, 2022

Magical Practices from the Kurukulla Kalpa

September 18-19, 2021

Practices of the Female Buddha Tara and Her Twenty-One Forms

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).

Tara is undoubtedly one of the most popular meditation deities in Tibetan Buddhism and her image and practice can be found in about every temple and monastery in the land. Her practice belongs to the Tantra tradition and was introduced into Tibet in its main form by the Indian Buddhist master Atisha in the 11th century. Her wide spread popularity is connected in this regard with the role of Avalokiteshvara, the embodiment of compassion, as the patron and protector of Tibet. She is known as”The Mother of all the Buddhas” because she is the active manifestation of the Prajnaparamita, “the perfection of wisdom,” the wisdom aspect of Buddhahood. It is said that every Buddha becomes one by virtue of realizing the perfection of wisdom. As the embodiment of wisdom in action and the enlightened activity of the Buddha, she therefore manifests herself in many different forms, but her basic form is Arya Tara, who is green in colour because symbolically that is the colour of activity. Principally she protects against the eight great fears, which are not only physical treats, but the afflictions of the negative emotions of confusion, pride, anger, envy, wrong views, greed, attachment, and doubt. Besides her basic sadhana meditation practice, this seminar will look into the series known as “The Praises of the Twenty-One Taras,” where each form has different colours, bears different attributes, and has different magical functions. This will rely upon the explanations of Longchenpa, the great Lama of the Nyingmapa school, in terms of her meanings outer, inner, and secret.
For the access code, consult our fan page on Facebook.
Donation 30€

October 23-24, 2021

Meditation and Ritual Practices of Wrathul Deities in Tibetan Buddhism

Weekend Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).

One of the aspects of Tibetan Buddhism that have fascinated many Westerners is the depiction in Buddhist art of various meditation deities. These exotic images of naked dancing Dakinis and of ferocious Wrathful Deities, often resembling what we Westerners think of as demons and as something evil, seems strange and ironic to us. What appear to us as peaceful, celibate, contemplative Buddhist monks appear to be meditating on and visualizing such bizarre and terrifying figures in their practices. But there are solid reasons historical, psychological, and spiritual for such practices. This seminar will look into these meditations and rituals, and in particular, into the sadhana practice of meditating upon the wrathful aspects of the Great Bodhisattvas. For this, there is Vajrapani, and also his collaboration with his two colleagues in persuing compassionate enlightened activities, Hayagriva and Garuda. Such fierce-looking Bodhisattvas are manifestations of Buddha enlightenment, and in their hearts they are peaceful, calm, and entirely compassionate, but in order to overcome and transform the negative energies of anger and hatred, which afflict our world, they display a wrathful face. This is like a wise and loving parent displaying a wrathful face to disciple a naughty child. In general, the aim is to transform the energies of the negative emotions into enlightened awareness. This is the aim of Tantric practice in the Buddhist sense. This also brings up the question of what is evil and where does it originate. One may apply the sadhana practice of Wrathful Deities in one’s meditation in daily life to handle thoughts of anger and aggressiveness, as well as to develop the courage to face the difficulties one faces in life.
For the access code, consult our fan page on Facebook.
Donation 30€.

November 20-21, 2021

Vajrakilaya Practice according to the Nyingmapa Tradition

Weekend Seminar via Zoom [Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks.]

In his heart, an enlightened being like the Buddha or a Great Bodhisattva, is calm, peaceful, and totally compassionate. But in order to subdue and transform negative energies, often embodied as evil spirits, especially those that arise directly from the poisonous passions of anger and hatred, it is necessary on occasion for such compassionate enlightened beings to display a wrathful face and form and engage in wrathful actions. Thus, when the demon sorcerer Rudra threatened to enslave and even extinguish nascent humanity in prehistoric times, the great Bodhisattva Vajrapani, also known as Vajrasattva, adopted this exceedingly terrifying form of Vajrakilaya in order to subdue Rudra and his minions. The demon Rudra symbolizes the inflated ego and the evils it causes. In general, the function of Vajrakilaya practice is to overcome obstacles and demolish negative energies afflicting the life of the individual practitioner. For the overcoming and subduing of demons, evil, spirits, and negative energies generally in his own time, it is said that Vajrakilaya was the personal meditation practice of Guru Padmasambhava himself, as well as that of his consort, the Tibetan princess Yeshe Tsogyal, who wrote the first Tibetan commentary on this practice.
These methods include the higher spiritual practices (stod-las) for attaining liberation and enlightenment and the more practical magical ritual actions (smad-las) for subduing and transforming negative energy in daily life. As embodied in the Yidam, or meditation deity, Vajrakilaya is among one of the most popular meditation and ritual practices in the Nyingmapa tradition, the oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism. In terms of Buddhist practices in Tibet, along with the Longchen Nyingthik, the Düdjom Tersar has become among the most popular and widespread Terma cycles of practice among the Nyingmapas, both monks and Ngakpa Lamas, or yogis. It is said that these cycles of the Düdjom Vajrakilaya complete the revolation of this practice in terms of Mahayoga Tantra, Anuyoga Tantra, and Atiyoga or Dzogchen, as originally taught and inaugurated by Padmasambhava among his circle of Tibetan disciples.
This seminar will introduce some of these meditation and ritual practices for Vajrakilaya according to the Düdjom Tersar, in particular, from the sPu-gri reg-phung, “the Razor that Destroys at a Touch.”
Contact: For access code, please consult our fan page on Facebook.

December 11-12, 2021

Advanced Vajrakilaya Practice according to the Düdjom Tersar Tradition

Seminar via Zoom, Saturay and Sunday, 3-7 pm afternoons

This seminar continues the previous seminar on Vajrakilaya practice from”The Razor that Destroys at a Touch” by Düdjom Rinpoche. He received this Terma hidden treasure in a vision of Yeshe Tsogyal herself, the Tibetan princess consort of Guru Padmasambhava, while meditating in the Tiger’s Nest cave in Bhutan. However, attendence at the previous seminar is not required. The seminar will focus on the meditation and ritual practice, beginning with the preliminaries of erecting a Mandala, that is, casting a magical circle to expel and prevent interference from outside provocations of negative energy, but also on constructing a talismanic image to access and contain higher spiritual energies. Following the visualization of the principal Yidam meditation deity and his retinue, there is the descent of the spirit, or wisdom being, into this image and the presenting of puja offerings and praises outer, inner, and secret. This process culminates in the mantra recitations, which is followed by a short Ganapuja or Tantric Feast. In a future seminar there will be discussed some of the magical practices associated with Vajrakilaya, such as long life practice and the exorcism of negative energies, based upon the personal instructions received from Düdjom Rinpoche.
Contact: For registration and access code, consult the fan page on Facebook.

February 20-21, 2021

Simhamukha—The Lion-Headed Dakini of Wisdom and Magical Power

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).
Generally, in terms of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dakini represents the autonomous feminine principle that is outside of the control of patriarchal society and the rational male ego consciousness. For this reason, the Dakini may be represented as alluring and enchanting, but also as wrathful and terrifying. This seminar will look at the meditations, rituals, and magical practices associated with the wrathful lion-headed Dakini Simhamukha, mistress of enchantments, sorceries, and witchcraft, who brings all those beings who are difficult to subdue under her influence and power, and who also vanquishes and subdues all obstacles, negativities, and evil obstructing spirits. Simhamukha was the personal practice of Guhyajnana Dakini, the female Guru of Padmasambhava in the Central Asian country of Uddiyana and he introduced the practice into Tibet. A few centuries later, her practice was again introduced from India into Tibet by Bari Lotsawa. Simhamukha remains a very popular practice in the Nyingmapa school of Tibetan Buddhism, but also the Sakyapa school, and is now found in all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. This seminar will look into the meditation and ritual practices associated with the wrathful lion-headed Wisdom Dakini Simhamukha, who vanquishes and subdues all obstacles, provocations of negative energy, and obstructing evil spirits. For this purpose, we shall rely on the profound expositions of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and his disciple Ayu Khandro regarding the practices for this lion-headed Dakini who is a manifestation of the enlightened awareness and wrathful compassion of the Buddha.
For the access code, consult our fan page on Facebook.
Donation 30€.

March 27-28, 2021

Psychic Self-Defence and Protecting against Magical Attacks

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).
In view of the excess of negative energy circulating in the world these days, it is necessay for the individual practitioner to know how to protect one’s personal energy field from them by way of psychic self-defense. Within the Nyingmapa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as the Sakyapa school, the protection practices of the lion-headed Wisdom Dakini Simhamukha are very popular and effective for this purpose, her special function being that of averting, repulsing, and sending back to their source any psychic or magical attacks and any provocations of negative energy. She represents the Dakini aspect of Guru Padmasambhava who established the Tantric tradition of Buddhist practice in Tibet and as a Wisdom Dakini she embodies the principal of feminine empowerment. This workshop will introduce some of the practices of Simhamukha in terms of meditations and rituals for self-protection and psychic self-defense. For this purpose, we rely on the profound expositions of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo regarding the practices for this Wisdom Dakini, who is a manifestation of enlightened awareness and wrathful compassion. We shall also look into the collection of magical practices associated with this wrathful lion-headed Dakini, including the Lower Magical Rites for subduing and transforming evil spirits that cause harm, obstacles, and illnesses for undividual practitioners.
For the access code, consult our fan page on Facebook.
Donation 30€.

April 24-25, 2021

The Practice of Kurukulla—The Dakini of Enchantment and Witchcraft

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).
Are sex and spirituality diametrically opposed? For what appears to be a monastic tradition of celibate monks, it seems ironic that Buddhism possesses meditations upon a young, beautiful sex goddess. But Kurukulla is the archetype of the power that the feminine exercise over men and events. She embodies the power of magnetically attracting, summoning, enchanting, bewitching in order to bring people and circumstances under one’s influence. Thus she embodies one aspect of Buddha enlightenment in terms of skillful means.
It is said that the Wisdom Dakini Kurukulla originated in the Central Asia country of Uddiyana to the northwest of India, where she appeared in visions to the king Indrabhuti. Her name is translated into Tibetan as Rigjyedma, “she who is the cause of knowledge.” She early became very popular and remains so even today among the Tibetans because of her association with the magical function of enchantment and attraction, or the bewitching of beings in order to bring them under one’s power. More than any other figure in the Buddhist pantheon, she becomes the Buddhist goddess of love and sex, much like the Western goddesses Aphrodite and Venus. She is depicted as a naked, voluptuous, and seductive sixteen year old girl, holding attributes suggesting her powers, such as an iron hook of attraction, a noose to bind others to her will, and a flower-entwined bow and arrow. But as a goddess of witchcraft, she is also akin to Diana. It is she who brings all those beings who are otherwise difficult to subdue under her power. But she is not a worldly goddess; rather she is an emanation of the female Buddha Tara in her red form and, therefore, she represents the expression of the enlightened awareness and skillful means of a Buddha. This seminar will look into the meditation and ritual practices of the Dakini Yoga associated with Kurukulla, the Wisdom Dakini of enchantments and witchcraft, who comes when invoked from the mystical realm of Khechara, the land of the Dakinis in the West. For this purpose, we rely on the profound expositions of Düdjom Rinpoche, as well as Jamgön Kongtrul and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo regarding the practices for this Wisdom Dakini
For the access code, consult our fan page on Facebook.
Donation 30€.

May 22-23, 2021

Long Life Practices with Buddha Amitayus from the Chimed Sogthik

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).
At the Maratika cave in the high mountains of Nepal, the Buddha of Long Life, the Natha Amitayus in union with his consort, appeared during meditation practice to Guru Padmasambhava and his consort, the Indian princess Mandarava. Amitayus granted them his blessings and bestowed upon them the long life empowerments, so that they both came to realize the Vidyadhara stage of the power of long life. Then in the 19th century, the Tantric practitioner and discoverer of hidden treasure texts, Zilnön Namkhai Dorje, recovered the text of these practices in Bhutan, which are known as the Chimed Sogthik, “The Essence of the Undying Life-Force.” Presented in the next century with this hidden treasure text as its true custodian, Düdjom Rinpoche composed commentaries for it and taught these practices extensively, which are concerned with summoning and reinforcing the strength of the soul (la) and the long-life energies (tse). Beside the basic method for invoking longevity and the life-force energies of Natha Amitayus, there are the concealed sadhana practice for activating the five chakras and the rite for the cheating of death. This seminar will look into and engage in some of these practices.
For the access code, consult our fan page on Facebook.
Donation 30€.

June 5-6, 2021

Magical Attraction Practices with Kurukulla and Mahadeva

Seminar via Zoom.

The alluring and enchanting Wisdom Dakini, Kurukulla, the red form of the female Buddha Tara, is said to come to us from the mysterious land of the Dakinis, Uddiyana, situated in the western direction. Although embodying the deminien aspect of Buddha enlightenment and of female empowerment, this Wisdom Dakini of enchantments, sexuality, and witchcraft, especially uses her secuctive and magnetically attracting powers in order to influence and benefi living beings . human society and in the natural environment. By way of her sadhana practice with both meditation and ritual, one comes to deveöop great self-confidence and discovers within oneself one’s inner powers, capacities, and wisdoms.This seminar will look into the Higher Tantra practices of the Dakini Yoga of Kurukulla and its associated meditations and rituals relying upn the profound expositions of Düdjom Rinpocha and Jamgön Kongtrul. Note that this 4represents a continuation of the previous seminar, but that it is not necessary to have taken that seminar in order to take this one. The focus this time is upon the practices of megical attraction practices connnected with Kurukulla and with her associate, the Guardians Mahadeva and Uma.
For the access code, consult our fan page on Facebook.
Donation 30€.

September 18-19, 2021

Practices of the Female Buddha Tara and Her Twenty-One Forms

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).
Tara is undoubtedly one of the most popular meditation deities in Tibetan Buddhism and her image and practice can be found in about every temple and monastery in the land. Her practice belongs to the Tantra tradition and was introduced into Tibet in its main form by the Indian Buddhist master Atisha in the 11th century. Her wide spread popularity is connected in this regard with the role of Avalokiteshvara, the embodiment of compassion, as the patron and protector of Tibet. She is known as”The Mother of all the Buddhas” because she is the active manifestation of the Prajnaparamita, “the perfection of wisdom,” the wisdom aspect of Buddhahood. It is said that every Buddha becomes one by virtue of realizing the perfection of wisdom. As the embodiment of wisdom in action and the enlightened activity of the Buddha, she therefore manifests herself in many different forms, but her basic form is Arya Tara, who is green in colour because symbolically that is the colour of activity. Principally she protects against the eight great fears, which are not only physical treats, but the afflictions of the negative emotions of confusion, pride, anger, envy, wrong views, greed, attachment, and doubt. Besides her basic sadhana meditation practice, this seminar will look into the series known as “The Praises of the Twenty-One Taras,” where each form has different colours, bears different attributes, and has different magical functions. This will rely upon the explanations of Longchenpa, the great Lama of the Nyingmapa school, in terms of her meanings outer, inner, and secret.
For the access code, consult our fan page on Facebook.
Donation 30€.

January 23-24, 2021

Dakinis—The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism

Seminar on line via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).
The Dakini, or Khandroma, literally “she who moves through space” or “she who goes through the sky,” is a manifestation of energy in female form. There are worldly Dakinis who are human beings such as female spiritual teachers, or else witches possessing psychic powers, but also non-human Dakinis such as goddesses and nature spirits in female form. In addition, there are Wisdom Dakinis who are transcendent, or beyond Samsara, and represent the manifestations of enlightened awareness in female form, such as the female Buddha Tara. The feminine principale in Budhism not only represents wisdom and the pure potentiality for giving birth to all possible manifestations, but this wisdom is something active, that is, wisdom engaging in terms of the wise exercise of compassion and skillful means in any situation in life. Thus, the Dakini figure, who is the embodiment of active wisdom, in the Buddhist tradition of Vajrayana, is shown as dancing. As a manifestation of Buddha enlightenment, she has one foot in Samsara and the other in Nirvana. More generally, in terms of Tantric Buddhism, the Dakini represents the feminine principle that is outside the control of patriarchal society and the rational male ego consciousness, whether in heaven or on earth. For this reason, the Dakini may be represented as alluring and enchanting, but also as wrathful and terrifying and especially dangerous to men who don not respect her. In this seminar, we will investicate Dakini Yoga, or the sadhana practice of the Dakini, as it comes to us from the Tibetan tradition.
Donation 30€.

October 24-25, 2020

Dzogchen and Tantric Sex Yoga

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).
What is sex yoga? Human sexuality is a universal topic both fascinating and humorous. But we may ask if sexual practices can also have a spiritual dimension? Generally nowadays in the West, the term “Tantra” has come to mean just having good sex with a partner, whether male or female. In ancient India, “yoga” meant spiritual practice and good sex was known as Kama, as in the Kama Sutra. Tantra, however, aimed at higher spiritual goals like libration and enlightment and not just having a good time. Specifically Tantra dealt with the continuous generating of energy, both physical and psychic, by the human body and mind. Sex is one source of such energy, but not the only one. Tantra deals with practices to access, focus, and channel these many kinds of energy. In this seminar, we will discuss some of these practices in yoga connected with sex, and their relationship to Dzogchen and meditation practice in general as found in the Higher Tantras.
For the access code, consult the Facebook page.
Donation 30€.

November 21-22, 2020

Dzogchen and Magic: Working with Subtle Energies

Seminar on line (Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).
What is magic? Generally in the West, magic has had a bad reputation. This began with the Christian Church asserting that magic could only be accompished and executed with the help of demons and evil spirits, even so-called “white magic.” Then modern science, with its mechanistic view of reality and causality, asserted that magic is only illusions performed on stage or seen in the cinema or on TV. However, in the Buddhist Tantras there are found various methods for evoking and cultivating certain psychic powers and capacities innate in the individual, which can even at times influence the external environment and the events in our life. Dzogchen asserts that our conventional reality, which seems so solid, is an illusion constructed by our minds. At the same time, it is the manifestation of our collective energy externalized and projected outside of ourselves. In this seminar, we shall look into some of these methods of sadhana meditation found in the Buddhist Tantras.
For the access code, consult the Facebook page.
Donation 30€.

December 12-13, 2020

Dzogchen on Spirituality and Prosperity Practices

Seminar on line(Saturday and Sunday, times 15-19, with breaks).
To be a meditation practitioner is it necessary to act pious and holy and renounce the pleasures we can experience in the world? Is it necessary to suffer poverty and destitution in order to be spiritual? In the West we generally have a very dualistic attitude toward the meaning of spirituality. For most of us liberation and enlightenment are distant goals, realized not tomorrow or the next day, but maybe after some many lifetimes in Samsara. Heaven is thought to be very distant from earth. According to Dzogchen, Samsara and Nirvana are of the same essence, empty of any ultimate reality, but they appear, nevertheless, as manifestations of our vision and energy. To pursue higher spiritual goals, is it necessary to renounce the worldly life and become a monk or a nun living in poverty? There is an alternative path of practice described in the Buddhist Tantras, that of the Tantrika or Ngakpa, where we can continue to engage in everyday worldly life, working with arous energies, including prosperity practices. There are found in the Tantras many sadhana meditation practices to overcome obstacles facing us in life and methods to improve our present day material conditions, such as the summoning of prospertiy and good fortune. Thus, in this seminar we shall look into the lifestyle of the Tantrika and some of the prosperity practices found in the Buddhist Tantras.
For the access code, consult the Facebook page.
Donation 30€.

September 26-27, 2020

Dzogchen and Guru: Discovering the Master

Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 14-18, with breaks)
Guru Yoga is an important practice in both Buddhist Tantra and Dzogchen, according to Tibetan tradition. It has the function of integrating and maintaining all of the transmissions of spiritual teachings and practices that one has received in this present life. Literally this term is translated as “Unification with the Master.” But this calls into question what and who the Master is, known in Sanskrit as “the Guru” and in Tibetan as “the Lama.” This question, as well as whether or not it is necessary for the practitioner to engage in such a practice, and how it may be abused in practical terms, will be discussed in the seminar.
Contact for access code: register@kunzangling.net
Donation 30€.

July 18-19, 2020

Dzogchen Practice: Rushans and Semdzin

Seminar via Zoom Saturday and Sunday 2:00 UTC – 16:00 UTC
~45min sessions with ~15min breaks in between

In Dzogchen meditation practice, the emphasis is placed on awareness, mindfulness, attaining peace of mind, and cultivating insight into one’s own real nature. There are various simple, direct, and easy to access methods of meditation and non-meditation for discovering within oneself the primordially pure condition known as the Natural State of the Nature of Mind. This seminar will present a direct introduction to Dzogchen practice utilizing exercises known as Rushans and Semdzins and look at how meditation may be integrated into one’s daily life.
Contact for access code: register@kunzangling.net
Donation 30€.

August 22-23, 2020

Dzogchen and Tantra: Energy and Awareness

Seminar via Zoom Saturday and Sunday 2:00 UTC – 16:00 UTC
~45min sessions with ~15min breaks in between

Energy is one of the dimensions of our existence as human beings. This subtle energy, which links body and mind, has yet to quantified by physical science, but may be detected by our bodies and minds, which are very sensitive to these aspects of experience and reality. Mental energy, which freely and spontaneously arises out of the pure potentiality of basic space itself, may be accessed directly by way of Dzogchen practice and the methods of energy transformation found in meditation practice. In this seminar, we will discuss these processes in terms of the three levels of Buddhist teachings known as Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen.
Contact for access code: register@kunzangling.net
Donation 30€.

June 20-21, 2020

Dzogchen and Buddhist Meditation: Rediscovering the Nature of Mind
Seminar via Zoom (Saturday and Sunday, times 11-13, 16-18)

Meditation lies at the core of the practice of Buddhism, not as a religion, but as a practical way of life. In this context, the emphasis is placed on mindfulness and awareness, the attaining of peace of mind in these difficult times, the healing of neurotic mental conflicts, and cultivating insight into our real nature. Dzogchen, “the Great Perfection,” which teaches the path of self-liberation, is traditionally regarded in Tibet as the highest and most profound teaching of the Buddha. In terms of meditation practice, Dzogchen distinguishes between “the mind,” or our normal thought process, which is cyclical and samsaric in nature, and “the Nature of Mind,” which is the primordial state of Buddha enlightenment at the core of our being, beyond all time, conditioning, and causality. This seminar will emphasize how Dzogchen and Buddhist meditation can be integrated into our daily life.

Contact for information: vajranatha[at]hotmail.com
Donation 30€.

February 22-23, 2020

Local Nature Spirits and Establishing a Personal Relationship with Nature
Kunzang Ling, Szczecin, Poland [Weekend seminar-workshop]

According to traditonal Tibetan histories, the remote land of Tibet was inhabited before the advent of human beings by various races of non-human spirits, called Lha or Mimayin. Tibetan shamanism, as well as Bön and Buddhism which came later to Tibet, directly engaged with these local nature spirits, who could be benevolent or harmful. Inhabiting the wild places of nature beyond the confines of human civilization. Even today according to Tibetan belief, they are thought to continue to exist and exert influences on human beings. When offended by the disrespectful and destructive actions of human beings inflicted upon the natural environment, which is their home, they can project illness and other misfortunes upon humans in return. There are various classes of these spirits according to different cultural traditions and Tibetan tradition has a very elaborate system for this. The seminar will look into various methods for engaging, propitiating, and exorcising the negative manifestations of such spirtis found in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

Contact: Wojtek, info[at]kunzangling.net

February 21, 2020

Mountain Gods and Lake Goddesses in Old Tibet
Pommeranian Library, Szczecin, Poland [Friday evening talk]

When Buddhism was introduced into Tibet from India in the 7-8th centuries, it encountered an indigenous folk religion with no name., which continues to be practiced even today among Tibetan people in Tibet itself, in the Himalayas, and in exile. Shamanism was a key aspect of this archaic religious culture, entailing direct personal contact with the other world of the spirits. Central to this was the role of the local mountain gods, or Yul-lha, and their lake goddess consorts, or Menmo. In this evening talk we shall look into the continuing importance of these old pagan deities for the Tibetans and the rituals associated with them.

Contact: info[at]kunzangling.net

January 11-12, 2020

Dzogchen and Buddhsit Meditation—Directly Introducing Mind and the Nature of Mind
Kunzang Ling, Szczecin, Poland [Weekend meditation workshop]

Meditation has always been at the core of the practice of Buddhism in Tibet and elsewhere in Asia. Here the emphasis is placed on mindfulness and awareness, on the cultivation a penetrating insight into one’s own mental processes, and on the attaining of peace pf mind. In terms of the teachings of the Buddha known as Dzogchen, “the Great Perfection,” the transformative methods found in both Sutra and Tantra may be utilized, but accomplished from the viewpoint of Dzogchen. In this context, visualizations are kept at a minimum because the practitioner is directly introduced to the primordial base that lies beyond the confused and inefficient functioning of the ordinary mind caught up in Samsara. This primordially pure condition is known as the Natural State of the Nature of Mind. This weekend meditation workshop will focus on the actual methods of meditation in terms of Dzogchen Semde in a direct, simple, and easy to access manner.

Contact: Wojtek, info[at]kunzangling.net

January 10, 2020

Guru Yoga—The Guru in Spiritual Practice East and West
Pommeranian Library, Szczecin, Poland [Friday evening talk]

The term Guru comes from the spiritual traditions of India and now has also come to be employed in the West for a teacher asserting spiritual authority. But the real meaning and function of the Guru in the traditional context of Hinduism and Buddhism is not well understood in the modern West. Unfortunately this has led to a number of cases of financial and sexual abuse of this role in the West. In ths evening talk, we shall look into the significane for the spiritual pracitioner in its traditional context, especially Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism.

Contact: info[at]kunzangling.net

SCHEDULE OF SEMINARS FOR FALL—2019
With Lama Vajranatha (John Myrdhin Reynolds)

October 5-6, 2019

Dzogchen in the Buddhist and the Bönpo Traditions of Tibet
Sambhala Centre, Budapest Hungary [Weekend meditation workshop]

In Tibet there exist two authentic traditions for the transmission of the Dzogchen teachings, the Nyingmapa coming with Guru Padmasambhava from India, and the Bönpo coming with the masters Tapiritsa and Gyerpungpa from Zhang-zhung in Western Tibet. Both traditions focus on discovering in our immediate experience the Nature of the Mind, which lies beyond time and conditioning in terms of human society and culture. This intrinsic awareness known as Rigpa, which is the Nature of Mind itself, is ever-present in our daily experience in this life and even after death, like the presence of the sun in the sky beyond the clouds. This weekend workshop will explore some of the methods employed in Dzogchen in these two traditions for the self-discovery of the Nature of Mind.

Contact : Marti, martihum[at]gmail.com, Sambhala Centre, sambhala[at]tibet.hu

October 12-13, 2019

Vision in Darkness: Practice of the Dark Retreat in Dzogchen
Sambhala Centre, Budapest Hungary [Weekend meditation workshop]

In the Buddhist tradition of Tibet, Dzogchen asserts that everything we experience during our life time, and even after death in the Bardo, is a manifestation created by the mind. As evidence for this in terms of Dzogchen meditation, there is the practice of the Dark Retreat. The visions that appear in such a retreat do not arise out of the total darkness itself as a cause, but from the inherent energy of the Nature of Mind. The traditional Dark Retreat in Dzogchen lasts for 49 days, the same duration that the deceased consciousness spends in the Bardo after death. However, it is possible to do dark retreats for shorter periods of time. This seminar will examine the process of the Dark Retreat and the practice of Dzogchen known as Trekchö, or the releasing of all the tensions and rigidities that afflict everyday existence.

Contact : Marti, martihum[at]gmail.com, Sambhala Centre, sambhala[at]tibet.hu

October 18, 2019

The Practice of Buddhism in terms of Western Spiritual Traditions
Pommeranian Library, Szczecin, Poland [Friday evening talk]

Discussion of the Buddhist practices of Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen and how they can be integrated into Western life-styles.

Contact: Wojtek, info[at]kunzangling.net

October 19-20, 2019

Dzogchen and Buddhist Meditation: Discovering the Nature of Mind
Kunzangling, Szczecin, Poland [Weekend meditation workshop]

Dzogchen, “the Great Perfection,” which teaches the Path of Self-Liberation, is traditionally regarded in Tibet as the highest and most profound teaching of the Buddha. In terms of meditation practice, Dzogchen distinguishes between “the mind,” or our normal thought process that is cyclical and samsaric in nature, and “the Nature of Mind,” which is the primordial state of enlightenment that lies beyond all time, conditioning, and causality. Although inconceivable by the finite intellect and inexpressible in words, as the vary ground of our existence as individual living beings, this Natural State can be directly encountered within our immediate experience. By way of direct introduction and meditation practice, this primordial, yet everpresent, state of innate Buddha enlightenment, which resides at the very core of every individual living being, is revealed like the brilliant face of the sun in the sky when the dark clouds of ignorance are dissipated. This workshop will emphasize the actual practice of contemplation in terms of Dzogchen in everyday life.

Contact: Wojtek, info[at]kunzangling.net

SEMINARS WITH LAMA VAJRANATHA—TEACHING SCHEDULE SPRING 2019

January 18-19-20, 2019

Dzogchen Meditation Practice

Kunzangling, Szczecin, Poland

Mahayoga Tantra was transmitted to from India to Tibet by the illustrious master Padmasambhava. This represents the practice of “the path of transformation,” and what is transformed here is principally the energy and the vision of the individual practitioner for purposes both practical and spiritual. However, Dzogchen, also transmitted to Tibet by Padmasambhava, represents “the path of self-liberation,” where there is nothing to be changed or transformed because everything is perfect just as it is as the appearance or manifestation of mind. Thus, the focus is on experiencing the distinction between the ordinary, discursive mind and the Nature of Mind, or the primordially enlightened Buddha Nature at the core of the individul being, and which is beyond everyday stress and distractions, like the sky free of clouds. For this purpose of discovery, the meditation methods of Semdzin and Rushan are employed in practice. This meditation workshop is a continuation of the previous one at the same location, but it is not necessary to have attended the former.

Contact: Wojtek, info[at]kunzangling.net

January 26-27, 2019

Introduction to Dzogchen in the Bönpo Tradition of Tibet

Milano, Italy

In the Bönpo tradition of Tibet, Dzogchen is regarded as the ultimate teaching of all the Buddhas of the three times, and by the Bönpo Lamas it is classified as the ninth or highest vehicle to enlightenment. Unlike the other traditions of Dzogchen found within Bön, the Zhang-zhung Nyän-gyüd represents a continuous and unbroken transmission of the precepts of Dzogchen from the earliest times until our own day. These teachings were never concealed as Termas, or hidden treasure texts. These precepts were originally transmitted by the enlightened master Tapiritsa to his disciple Gyerlung Nangzher Lödpo at the Darok Lake in Zhang-zhung, or northwestern Tibet, in the 8th centruy of our era. But the ultimate source of the Dzogchen teachings are said to be far more ancient, extending back to the Primoridal Buddha, Kuntu Zangpo himself. These teachings represent upadeshas, or secret oral instructions, and were only put into writing and translated into Tibetan much later. They speak of an unconditioned state of being and awareness (rigpa) beyond the Tantric process of transformation. This refers to the Natural State of the Nature of Mind, one’s innate Buddha Nature, that is beyond time, conditioning, and causality, but accessible in immediate experience. This seminar will serve as an introduction to this ancient tradition from Zhang-zhung.

Contact: Andea Melis,

February 2-3, 2019

Mantra Healing in Tibetan Buddhist Tradition

Sambhala Centre, Budapest, Hungary

In the Buddhist tradition, the spiritual work of the practitioner has always been very much concerned with relieving suffering and the healing of the body and the mind, both of oneself and of others. Mantra represents the crative power of sound to call something into existence out of the state of pure potentiality for all possible manifestations. Thus, mantra is an integral part of many Buddhist healing practices. This workshop will focus on applying various different mantras, together with simple visualizations for channeling energies and ritual actions for healing oneself and others. The Sunday session will conclude with a Ganapuja and a celebration of Losar, or Tibetan New Year.

Contact: Marti, martihum[at]gmail.com

Info. Sambhala Center: sambhala[at]tibet.hu

February 9-10, 2019

Dzogchen and Working with Negative Emotions

Sambhala Centre, Budapest, Hungary

Negative emotions, or the kleshas, afflect the individual at various times during the day, especially in our medern urban, stressful life. The Buddha taught that these negative emotions, together with ignorance, are what bind us to continual suffering in the wheel of Samsara. Indeed, Samsara is not only the karmic cycle of death and rebirth, but how the mind itself works everyday. The Buddhist tradition offers many methods and techniques for working with and dealing with our everyday negative emotions of anger, desire, anxiety, and so on, in terms of the practices found in Sutra, “the path of renunciation,” Tantra, “the path of transformation,” and Dzogchen, “the path of self-liberation.” This meditation workshop will focus on the methods of Dzogchen in relation to alleviating and dissolving the negative emotions.

Contact: Marti, martihum[at]gmail.com

Info. Sambhala Center: sambhala[at]tibet.hu

March 29-30, 2019

Practices of the Lion-Headed Wisdom Dakini Simhamukha

Zvolen, Slovakia [Weekend meditation workshop]

Generally, in terms of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dakini represents the autonomous feminine principle that is outside the control of patriarchal society and the rational male ego consciousness. For this reason, the Dakini may be represented as alluring and enchanting, but also as wrathful and terrifying. This seminar will look at the meditations, rituals, and magical practices associated with the wrathful lion-headed Wisdom Dakini Simhamukha, mistress of enchantments, sorceries, and witchcraft, who brings all those beings who are difficult to subdue under her power, and who also vanquishes and subdues all obstacles, negativities, and evil spirits. Simhamukha was the personal practice of Guhyajnana Dakini, the female Guru of Padmasambhava in the Central Asian country of Uddiyana and he introduced the practice into Tibet. She remains a very popular practice in the Nyingmapa school of Tibetan Buddhism. For this purpose, we rely on the profound expositions of Dudjom Rinpoche regarding the practices for this Dakini, who is a manifestation of enlightened awareness. Here the focus will be on the collection of magical practices (las tshogs) associated with the wrathful lion-headed Dakini Simhamukha, and especially on the Lower Rites (smad-las) for subduing and transforming evil spirits that cause harm, obstacles, and illnesses for undividuals

Contact: Martin, mato[at]dzogchen.sk

April 5-6-7, 2019

Dzogchen in the Düdjom Tersar Tradition of Tibet

Maria Lankowitz, near Graz, Austria

Although the Düdjom Tersar revelations of Düdjom Rinpoche and his immediate predecessor Düdjom Lingpa consist mainly of Tantric practice texts, there are also specific practices for Dzogchen found here as well. For example, systems of practice such as Vajrakilaya and Khandro Thugthik are all explained from the standpoints of of Mahayoga, Anuyoga, and Atiyoga, or Dzogchen. This process begins with “mind teachings” (sems-khrid) which prepare the practitioner for a direct faca-to-face introduction to the Nature of Mind (rig-pa ngo-sprod), to be followed by the practices of Rushans, Trekchöd, and Thödgal. That is to say, after the basic orientation by way of the mind teachings in terms of meditation practice, the Rushans serve as a kind of preliminary practice (sngon-’gro) for Dzogchen, to be followed by the practices of contemplation and Trekchöd, or radical relaxation, and when this state is realized, it is possible to proceed to the practice of vision, or Thödgal. This workshop will engage in some practices which introduce and provide a survey of Dzogchen in the Düdjom Tersar.

Contact: Enrico: enricokosmos[at]gmail.com

April 26-27-28, 2019

Dzogchen Meditation Practice in the Khando Thugthik

Kunzang Ling, Szczecin, Poland [Weekend meditation workshop]

Although the Düdjom Tersar revelations of Düdjom Rinpoche and his immediate predecessor, Düdjom Lingpa, consist mainly of Tantric practice texts, there are also specific practices for Dzogchen found here as well. For example, the system of practice known as the Khandro Thugthik, “The Essence of the Mind of the Dakini,” are all explained from the standpoints of Mahayoga, Anuyoga, and Atiyoga, or Dzogchen. This process begins with “mind teachings” (sems-khrid), which prepare the practitioner for a direct face-to-face introduction to the Nature of Mind (rig-pa ngo-sprod), to be followed by the practices of Rushans, Trekchöd, and Thödgal. That is to say, after the basic orientation by way of the mind teachings in terms of meditation practice, the Rushans serve as a kind of preliminary practice (sngon-’gro) for Dzogchen proper, to be followed by the practices of contemplation and Trekchöd, or radical relaxation. When this state is realized, it is possible to proceed to the practice of vision, known as Thödgal. This workshop will engage in some practices of Dzogchen found in this cycle of Dakini Yoga teachings.

Contact: Wojtek, info[at]kunzangling. net

May 17-18-19, 2019

Dzogchen Teachings of “The Twenty-One Little Nails”

Winsor Locks, Connecticut, USA [Weekend meditation workshop]

Dzogchen teachings and practices are found in the two old schools of Tibet, the Nyingmapa and the Bönpo. In particular, the Bönpo Dzogchen teachings of the Zhangzhung Nyängyüd, “The Oral Tradition from Zhangzhung,” are classified into four cycles of texts, representing the actual words of the enlightened master Tapihritsa. The fourth cycle containing the very secret teachings of Dzogchen focus on the practices of contemplation, or Trekchöd, and the practice of vision, or Thödgal. The aim here is to remove any doubts regarding the Natural State of the Nature of Mind being the source of all vision, both in meditation practice and in normal life. This seminar will be based on the text known as “The Twenty-One Little Nails,” pertainig to the essential points of Dzogchen practice. Copies of the translation of this text will be available at the seminar.

Contact: Cheri Brady, cheribrady[at]aol.com

June 1-2, 2019

Bönpo Dzogchen in the Gyalwa Chaktri

Milano, Italy [Weekend meditation workshop]

In the 13th century, the illustrious Bönpo master, Druchen Gyalwa Yungdrung, composed a practice manual for the Dzogchen tradition of the Zhangzhung Nyängyüd, “The Oral Tradition from Zhangzhung.”.After dealing with the preliminary practices for Dzogchen, this text focuses on the Dzogchen practices of contemplation and of vision, also known as Trekchöd and Thödgal. The latter includes the dark retreat, sky meditation, and sunlight practice. In addition, four supplementary texts deal with the view, meditation, action, and fruit of Dzogchen practice. Some of the practices from this manual will be included in this weekend seminar.

Contact: Andea Melis,

June 29-30, 2019

Dzogchen Meditation Practice

Sambhala Center, Budapest, Hungary [meditation workshop]

Meditation lies at the heart of the practice of Buddhism in Tibet, where the emphasis is placed upon mindful awareness, attaining a peaceful state of mind, and cultivating insight into one’s own real nature. In terms of the Buddha’s teachings known as Dzogchen, the transformative methods of meditation from Buddhist Tantra are also employed, but here in Dzogchen practice visualizations are minimal and simple because practitioners are directly introduced to the Primordial Base that lies beyond the confused and inefficient functioning of the ordinary mind still caught up in the stress and distractions of Samsara. This meditation workshop will focus on the actual practice of Dzogchen, using the exercises known as Rushans and Semdzin. The emphasis will be on practice and how to integrate meditation into one’s everyday life.

Contact: Marti, martihum[at]gmail.com

July 6-7, 2010

Practice of Contemplation and Vision in the Dzogchen Tradition of Tibet

Sambhala Center, Budapast, Hungary [Weekend seminar and workshop]

Dzogchen practice principally focuses on finding oneself in the state of contemplation, the state of presence and awareness that lies beyond the confusions and distractions of our usual mental processes. Here the emphasis is on Kadak, or primordial purity, meaning freedom from all obscuration, delusion, and one-sidedness. This is a state of the total relaxation of all our rigidities and tensions in terms of body, speech, and mind. In such a state, we can potentially discover the inherent energy of the Nature of Mind, which may sponataneously manifest as pure vision, this being the way enlightened beings see things, in contrast to our usual distorted, impure, karmic vision. Here the emphasis is on Lhundrub, the spontaneous, visible manifestations of these energies inherent and potential within the Nature of Mind. Released from the overlay of obscurations of the conventioal mind, these manifest as pure visions. In turn, these may develop until they become integrated into the Clear Light of Reality. This meditation workshop will focus on the practice of contemplation and deep relaxatrion as preparation for the realisation of pure vision.

Contact: Marti, martihum[at]gmail.com

SEMINARS WITH LAMA VAJRANATHA — TEACHING SCHEDULE SPRING – 2018

October 26-27-28, 2018

Dzogchen Meditation Practice

Kunzang Ling, Szczecin, Poland

Meditation lies at the heart of the practice of Buddhism in Tibet and elsewhere in the world, where the emphasis is placed upon mindful awareness, attaining peace of mind, and cultivating insight into one’s own real nature. In terms of the Buddha’s teachings known as Dzogchen, the transformative methods of meditation from Buddhist Tantra are also employed, but here visualizations are minimal because practitioners are directly introduced to the primordial base that lies beyond the confused and inefficient functioning of the ordinary mind caught up in the stress and distractions of Samsara. This meditation workshop will focus on the actual practice of meditation and mindfulness in terms of Dzogchen, using the exercises known as Rushans and Semdzin. The emphasis will be on practice and how to integrate meditation into one’s everyday life.

Contact: Wojtek, intro[at]kunzangling.net

November 8-9-10-11-12, 2018

Teaching Retreat with khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung

Buddhasweg Seminar Centre, south of Frankfurt, Central Germany. Lama Vajranatha will be present to give some talks on Bönpo Dzogchen.

Contact: Dorothea Mihm, mihm[at]praxis-adarsha.de Advance notice of attendance is suggested.

November 17-18, 2018

Mindfulness and Healing Practice according to Dzogchen

Sambhala Centre, Budapest, Hungary

Healing has always been fundamental to Buddhist practice ever since Shakyamuni Buddha expounded his Dharma teachings regarding the eliminating of mental and emotional suffering in terms of a medical diagnosis of the human condition. Both Buddhist psychology, known as Abhidharma, and the Buddhist meditation practices of Shamatha and Vipashyana aim to relieve stress, to attrain a calm state of mind, and to develop the individual’s capacity for wisdom and clarity in everyday life. The key to such practice is mindfulness, that is to say, being aware of the every dimension of experience in terms of body, speech, and mind. In this seminar we will look into meditation practices and Dzogchen as taught by Padmasambhava in Tibet to increase mindfulness and develop our capacities.

Contact: Marti, martihum[at]gmail.com

November 24-25, 2018

Dzogchen and Tantra in the Nyingmapa Tradition of Tibet

Sambhala Centre, Budapest, Hungary

The Nyingmapas, “the Ancient Ones,” represent the oldest school of Buddhism in Tibet, established by the followers of Padmasambhava who brought the Tantric form of Buddhism known as Vajrayana from India to Tibet in the 8th century of our era. Tantra represents the “Path of Transformation,” and what is transformed here is principally the energy and vision of the practitioner for purposes both practical and spiritual. However, Padmasambhava also taught Dzogchen which represents “the Path of Self-Liberation,” and this focuses on the distinction between the ordinary everyday mind, with all its stress and distractions, and the Nature of Mind residing at the core of the individual. This core is one’s innate Buddha nature which has been there from the very beginning, lifetime after lifetime in Samsara. In this context, meditation practice is esentially a discovering of one’s actual inner nature.

Contact: Marti, martihum[at]gmail.com

SEMINARS WITH LAMA VAJRANATHA — TEACHING SCHEDULE FALL 2017

September 1-2-3, 2017

Vajrakilaya Practice in the Nyingmapa Tradition of Tibet

Munich, South Germany

The Buddhist teachings preserved in the Nyingmapa school of Tibet, established by the master Padmasambhava in the 8th century of our era, are classified into nine successive vehicles to enlightenment. The three highest of these vehicles are collectively known as the Inner Tantras: Mahayoga Tantra emphasizes the visualization process of transforming oneself into a meditation deity in its mandala palace, thereby accessing the powers, capacities, and wisdoms traditionally associated with that particular archetypal form. Anuyoga Tantra, emphasizes the awakening of inner psychic heat and the experiencing of ecstatic sensual experience by way of yoga, breath control, and practice with a consort. Atiyoga Tantra, also known as Dzogchen, distinguishes between the ordinary discursive mind, or thought process, and the nature of mind at the core of one’s being, which is intrinsic awareness beyond time and space, this representing the individual’s primordially enlightened Buddha Nature. In the previous century, Düdjom Rinpoche, and before that his predecessor and previous incarnation Düdjom Lingpa, were realized masters in Tibet and leading exponents of these methods of Maha, Anu, and Ati, especially in relation to the cycle of practice for the meditation deity Vajrakilaya. This seminar will examine some of the methods of Anuyoga and Atiyoga found in the Terma text, the Namchak Pudri, “The Razor of Meteorite Iron,”

Contact: Benno, info060-reg[at]yahoo.de

September 15-16-17, 2017

Guardians and Nature Spirits in Tibetan Buddhism

Szczecin, Poland

When the Tibetan king Trisong Detsan attempted to erect the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet at Samye in the 8th cen. CE, his efforts were opposed by the local gods and spirits who were addicted to receiving blood sacrifices. They knew well that the Buddhist monks of India were opposed to such practices. Advised by the scholar Shantirakshita, the king invited to Tibet the great Tantric master Padmasambhava from Uddiyana. Later known as Guru Rinpoche, this master was able to subdue these local gods and spirits in firece magical combats, converting them to the Dharma. Binding them with powerful oaths, he comissioned them henceforth to be guardians and protectors of the Dharma and its practitioners. Hence they are known as Dharmapalas. Since that time, every Buddhist monastery, after sunset, performs the Rites of the Guardians, invoking and propiating these gods and spirits with puja offerings. We will examine these rites and rituals instituted by Padmasambhava, including those for the special protectors of Dzogchen, especially with regard to how we, as human beings, can re-establish a harmonious relationship with the nature spirits who inhabit our natural environment.

Contact: info[at]kuntuzangpo.net

November 10-11-12, 2017

Padmasambhava and the Nyingmapa Tradition of Tibet

Lubin, Poland

In the 8th cen. of our era, the illustrious master from Uddiyana in Central Asia, Guru Padmasambhava, introduced the Tantric form of Buddhism known as Vajrayana from India into Tibet. Once there, he subdued the local gods and demons in magical combat, converting them into protectors and guardians of the Buddhist teachings. Padmasambhava not only introduced the practices of Mahayoga Tantra into Tibet, but also Dzogchen, often considered in the Tibetan tradition to represent the highest teaching of the Buddha. Dzogchen points directly to the Nature of Mind which lies beyond the transformative processes of the Tantras.

Later he concealed many Termas, or hidden treasure texts, throughout theHimalayan region of Tibet and Bhutan. These were rediscovered in later centuries by the reincarnations of his original band of disciples. In the following centuries, his followers, the married Lamas known as Ngakpas, became renowned as the Nyingmapas, or “the Ancient Ones.” In this weekend seminar we will survey the contents of the Nyingmapa tradition, both Kama and Terma, and focus on the practice of Guru Yoga, and selected other practices.

Contact: Jacek, jacekmisioknd[at]gmail.com;

SEMINARS WITH LAMA VAJRANATHA — TEACHING SCHEDULE SPRING 2017

March 11-12,. 2017

Tantra and Dzogchen in the Buddhist Traditions of Tibet

[Weekend meditation workshop]
Kunzang Ling Center, Szczecin, Poland
Meditation practice has always been at the core of Buddhism everywhere in Asia, and this is also true of the related Bonpo tradition of Tibet. Accordingly, the teachings and the practices revealed by the Buddha may be classified into the three levels of Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen, corresponding to the three dimensions of human existence of body, energy, and mind. Sutra is mainly concerned with the nature of human existence in the world, especially one’s ethical conduct and behavior towards other living beings in this present life. Nevertheless, meditation practice at the Sutra level is fundamental and is decidedly psychological in its approach. Tantra is more concerned with the individual’s dimension of energy, that is to say, how to access energy and then how to direct and channel it for specific purposes, such as healing. Dzogchen, however, represents the discovery of the nature of mind in one’s immediate experience at the core of one’s being. All three approaches aim at the attaining of liberation from suffering in Samsara and the realizing of enlightened awareness as the essence of one’s being. We shall investigate the foundations of meditation practice in both the Buddhist of Tibet and in the weekend workshop the emphasis will be on actual meditation practice.
Contact: Wojtek, info[at]kuntuzangpo.net

April 8-9, 2017

Vajrakilaya Practice in the Nyingmapa Tradition of Tibet

[Weekend meditation workshop]
Kunzang Ling Center, Szczecin, Poland
In the previous century, Düdjom Rinpoche, and before that his predecessor and previous incarnation Düdjom Lingpa, were realized masters in Tibet and leading exponents of the Tantric methods of transformation known as Mahayoga, Anuyoga, and Atiyoga, especially in relation to the cycle of practice for the wrathful meditation deity Vajrakilaya. This seminar will examine some of the methods of these Yogas found in the Terma text, the Namchak Pudri, “The Razor of Meteorite Iron,” of Düdjom Lingpa and the commentaries on this cycle by his successor Düdjom Rinpoche.
Contact: Wojtek, info[at]kuntuzangpo.net

April 21-22-23, 2017

Death and Dying according to the Tibetan Book of the Dead
Stockholm, Sweden [Weekend meditation workshop]
Does conscious existence continue after the death of the material body? The ultimate fact of death faces every living being. Whatever is born will eventually die. Nevertheless, according to the teaching of the Buddha, the death of the brain and the material body is not the end of our conscious exerience. Death is only a passage and a gateway, one stage in our transformations along the journey. The Tibetan Book of the Dead, or Bardo Thödrol, “liberation through hearing while in the Bardo,” was one of the most profound texts to come out of the Dzogchen tradition of Tibet, this being established in the 8th century of our era by Padmasambhava. This master not only described the process of dying and how to prepare for this inevitable experience with certain meditation practices, but also detailed the after-death experiences of the individual, known as the Bardo, that eventually leads to rebirth into human existence, or into some other dimension of reality. The Dzogchen teachings of Padmasambhava serve both as the philosophical and the practical basis of the Book of the Dead. In this two day seminar, we shall look at the questions of death, dying, reincarnation, and purifying past karma in the light of Dzogchen and Buddhist psychology. Some practices in the Dzogchen tradition that relate to preparation for dying and the Bardo experience occuring thereafter will be examined.
Contact: Jens, jens[at]nasstrom.info

May 12-13-14, 2017

Kurukulla—The Dakini of Enchantment and Witchcraft
Zvolen, Central Slovakia [Evening lecture, weekend meditation workshop]
The Dakini or Khandroma, literally “she who moves through space” or “she who goes in the sky,” is a manifestation of energy in female form. There are worldly Dakinis who are human beings such as female spiritual teachers or else witches possessing psychic powers, but also non-human Dakinis such as goddesses and nature spirits in female form. In addition, there are Wisdom Dakinis who are transcendent or beyond Samsara and represent the manifestations of enlightened awareness in female form, such as the female Buddha Tara, or female Bodhisattvas such as Lakshmi and Sarasvati, or Guardians in female form like Ekajati. In the Tantric Buddhism of Tibet, the Dakini embodies the Wisdom Principle of Buddha enlightenment, for which reason she is said to be the Consort of all the Buddhas. More generally, in terms of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dakini represents the feminine principle that is outside the control of patriarchal society and the rational male ego consciousness. For this reason, the Dakini may be represented as alluring and enchanting, but also as wrathful and terrifying and dangerous to men. This seminar will look at the meditation and ritual practices associated with Kurukulla, the Dakini of enchantments, sexuality, and witchcraft, coming from the mystical land of Uddiyana, the Land of the Dakinis. She is identified as the red form of Tara. It is she who brings all those beings who are otherwise difficult to subdue under her power. This seminar will survey the importance of the Dakini Principle in the Higher Tantra practice of Tibetan Buddhism and introduce some of the ritual and meditation practices connected with Dakini Yoga of Kurukulla. For this purpose, we shall rely on the profound expositions of Düdjom Rinpoche and Jamgön Kongtrul.

Contact: Martin, mato[at]dzogchen.sk, or Tomas: benadik[at]gmail.com

May 19-20-21, 2017

Dzogchen according to the Düdjom Tersar Cycle of Vajrakilaya
Maria Lankowitz, near Graz, Austria [Weekend meditation workshop]
The Buddhist teachings preserved in the Nyingmapa school of Tibet, established by the master Padmasambhava in the 8th century of our era, are classified into nine successive vehicles to enlightenment. The three highest of these vehicles are collectively known as the Inner Tantras: Mahayoga Tantra emphasizes the visualization process of transforming oneself into a meditation deity in its mandala palace, thereby accessing the powers, capacities, and wisdoms traditionally associated with that particular archetypal form. Anuyoga Tantra, emphasizes the awakening of inner psychic heat and the experiencing of ecstatic sensual experience by way of yoga, breath control, and practice with a consort. Atiyoga Tantra, also known as Dzogchen, distinguishes between the ordinary discursive mind, or thought process, and the nature of mind at the core of one’s being, which is intrinsic awareness beyond time and space, this representing the individual’s primordially enlightened Buddha Nature. In the previous century, Düdjom Rinpoche, and before that his predecessor and previous incarnation Düdjom Lingpa, were realized masters in Tibet and leading exponents of these methods of Maha, Anu, and Ati, especially in relation to the cycle of practice for the meditation deity Vajrakilaya. This seminar will examine some of the methods of Anuyoga and Atiyoga found in the Terma text, the Namchak Pudri, “The Razor of Meteorite Iron,” of Düdjom Lingpa and the commentaries on this cycle by his successor Düdjom Rinpoche.
Contact: Enrico, enricokosmus[at]gmail.com

June 2-3-4, 2017

The Oral Tradition of Zhang-zhung: An Introduction to Bönpo Dzogchen Teachings
[Weekend meditation workshop] St. Thomas Seminary, near Hartford, CT, USA
Unlike the other traditions of Dzogchen found within the Bönpo tradition, the Zhang-zhung Nyän-gyüd represents a continuous and unbroken transmission from earliest times of the precepts of Dzogchen coming down to our own time. These teachings and practices were transmitted by the enlightened master Tapihritsa to his disciple Gyerpung Nangzher Lödpo at the Darok Lake in the 8th century in Zhang-zhung, or Northwestern Tibet, at that time an independent kingdom with its own language and religious culture. But the ultimate source of the Dzogchen teachings are said to be far more ancient, extending back to the Primordial Buddha, Kuntu Zangpo himself. These represent upadeshas, or secret oral instructions, only put into writing and translated into Tietan much later. They speak of an unconditioned state of being and awareness (rigpa) beyond the tantric process of transformation. This refers to the Natural State of the Nature of Mind, one’s own innate Buddha Nature that is beyond time, conditioning, and causality, but accessible in immediate experience.
In the Bonpo tradition, Dzogchen is regarded as the ultimate teaching of all the Buddhas of the three times, and it is classified as the ninth or highest vehicle to enlightenement. However, the texts of the Zhang-zhung Nyan-gyud never became Termas, or hidden treasure texts, but represented a continuous transmission of oral and written teachings until the present time. Not only is this tradition of singular importance for understanding the historical development of Dzogchen in Early Tibet, but are equally relavent today in terms of teaching and practice for revealing the nature of mind and consciousness. This seminar will survey the teachings, literature, and practices found in this oral tradition coming from the ancient land of Zhang-zhung. This material will be found in the author’s three books, “The Oral Tradition from Zhang-zhung,” “Bonpo Dzogchen Teachings,” and “Precepts of the Dharmakaya,” which will be available at the seminar.
Contact: Cheri Brady, cheribrady[at]aol.com

Last update: May 6, 2017

Last Updated on Saturday, 06 May 2017 07:26

SEMINARS WITH LAMA VAJRANATHA —
TEACHING SCHEDULE FALL 2016
October 7-8-9, 2016

Tibetan Shamanism and Buddhist Meditation Practice: Healing the Body and the Soul
Hartford, CT, USA [Friday night talk and weekend workshop]
The roots of ancient Tibetan culture lie deep within the rich soil of North Asian Shamanism. When an individual in the Tibetan community fell ill and the usual herbal remedies failed, a shaman was called in to divine the origin of the illness, usually due to negative provocations of energy from a hostile or offended nature spirit. After chanting and dancing, he or she would fall into an altered state of consciousness that gave access to the other world of the spirits. Then a Lha or Pawo, a spirit guide, would speak through the shaman and prescribe a healing ritual, which would afterwards be performed. Over the centuries, these indigenous shamanic practices of Tibet became integrated with the Buddhist teachings and practices of Indian origin, which has given Tibetan Buddhism its unique and colorful character.
Before Indian Buddhism came to Central Tibet in the 8th century of our era, Tibet had already developed a rich cultural and spiritual tradition known as Bön, which had ties with Central Asia and the mysterious land of Zhang-zhung to the west of Tibet. The teachings and practices of Yungdrung Bön, “the eternal tradition,” stemmed from those of the Buddha known as Tönpa Shenrab, who taught in Olmo Lungring in ancient Central Asia. His teachingsare allotted among the four Gateways of Bon, which include shamanic practices of healing, as well as the higher spiritual teachings that aim at attaining liberation from suffering in Samsara and realizing Buddha enlightenment.
In later in India also, the Buddha Shakyamuni charged his original group of disciples, not only to teach the Dharma to others in their own languages, but equally to heal those who were afflicted by physical suffering and diseases. The original teachings of the Buddha were cast in the form of traditional Indian medicine: dignosis of the human condition in terms of mental and emotional suffering, discovering the causes of this suffering, the prognosis that a cure to suffering is possible, and the the process of eleviating suffering through behaviour, meditation practice, and wisdom. Thus, healing lies at the heart of the practice of traditional shamanism in Tibet, as well as at the core of Buddhist and Bönpo teaching and practice.
In this weekend course, we shall investigate the energetic basis of healing in both Tibetan Shamanism and Tibetan Buddhism, including the use of meditation and visualization for invoking Tse, or healing energy, from a higher spiritual source. Furthermore, we shall focus on such traditional practices as Tseguk (recalling life-energy), Laguk (recalling the soul), Soktik (balancing energies), Tsedrub (self-healing), and Tsewang (transmitting healing energy to others). This will include the practices associated with the long-life Buddha Amitayus, White Tara, and the Medicine Buddha, the patron of all professional healing practicioners.
Conact: Cheri Brady, cheribrady[at]aol.com

October 28-29-30-31, 2016

The Wrathful Black Dakini Simhamukha for Protection and Defence
Marie Lankowitz near Graz, Austria [Friday night talk, weekend meditation workshop]

The Wisdom Dakini Simhamukha, who represents the enlightened feminine energy of Guru Padmasambhava, has many functions and aspects. Her principal manifestation is that of the Vajra Dakini Simhamukha, dark azure in colour with a white lion’s face, dancing in the center of the mandala. Her principal magical actitivity is that of protection and the avereting of negative energies. Surrounding her in the four directions, she manifests four aspects of herself for specific magical functions: the white Buddha Dakini in the east for healing, the yellow Ratna Dakini in the south for enrichment and prosperity, the red Padma Dakini in the west for attraction and enchantment, and the dark green Karma Dakini in the north for wrathful practices and the overcoming of obstacles.This seminar will focus on a special aspect of the latter, known as Krodhikali Simhamukha, for the diffusing and transforming of negative energies and for defense against psychic and magical attacks. For this purpose, we will draw on the teachings of both Dudjom Rinpoche and Jamyang Khyenste Wangpo.
Contact: Enrico, enricokosmus[at]gmail.com

November 5-6, 2016

Protection Practices and Psychic Self-Defence
Sambhala Center, Budapest [Two day seminar and practice workshop]

When the illustrious Buddhist master Padmasambhava introduced Vajrayana, the Tantric form of Buddhism, into Tibet in the 8th century of our era, he encountered many negative energies and evil spirits who violently opposed these higher spiritual teachings of Buddhism. With his mantric power he was able to subdue and transform these neagative energies so that they could be employed by practitioners for beneficial purposes. As Padmasambhava himself said in the Rinchen Bumzang, “Those who have now obtained a precious human rebirth and intelligence next need to free themselvres from incidental blocks and obstructions of negative energy in the way of their path, thereby realizing benefits both in this present life and in future lives. Therefore, I shall teach here methods of skillful means for summoning good luck, prosperity, and protection for the individual.” In this weekend workshop, we shall examine and engage in some of these action practices taught by Padmasambhava for the improving of the everyday condition of our lives, especially relating to protection and psychic self-defense.
Contact: Marti, martihum[at]gmail.com.
Info. Sambhala Center: sambhala[at]tibet.hu

November 18-19-20, 2016

Dzogchen in Theory and Practice
Kunzang Ling Center, Szczecin, Poland [Weekend seminar and meditation practice]

In Tibetan Buddhism, Dzogchen, “the Great Perfection,” is considered to be the highest teaching of the Buddha, having been introduced from India into Tibet in the 8th century of our era by Padmasambhava. Dzogchen makes a fundamental distinction betweem “mind,” our thought processes characterized by emotional confusion, and our “Nature of Mind,” the calm luminous center of our being that lies beyond time, space, and causality, this being the source and matrix of the mind itself. By way of the meditation exercises of Semdzin and Rushan, we come to discover in our meditation experience what is mind and how it is distinguished from the Nature of Mind. These exercises prepare the individual for the direct introduction to the Nature of Mind.
Contact: Wojtek, info[at]kuntuzangpo.net

November 25-26-27, 2016

Tibetan Dream Yoga
Stockholm, Sweden

Normally, we human beings spend at least a third of our lifetime in sleep and dreaming. Nevertheless, it is possible to engage in a dialogue with our dreams, receiving portents of the future, and even to become awake and self-aware in them awake and self-aware in our dreams and experience what is generally known as “lucid dreaming.” Becoming conscious in our dreams without awakening from sleep, we may come to find ourselves in control of our dream and be able to transform it, even practice meditation while asleep and journey in a dream-body to explore other worlds and dimensions of existence. Moreover, dream yoga represents an excellent training to prepare us for dying and the after-death-experience known as the Bardo, where, as is the case with the dream state, we are confronted with our karmic visions as virtual realities. In this course, we shall explore some of the methods found in the shamanistic and tantric traditions of Ancient Tibet, including Dzogchen, used by the Lamas of Tibet to realize lucid dreams and bring about their transformation, which in turn will affect the waking state life and the consciousness of the individual.
Contact: Jens, jens[at]nasstrom.info

December 1, 2016

Witches and Dakinis
Lekdan Ling, Hackney, London

This evening talk will explore the similarities in practice between Wicca and Western Ceremonial magic and that of the Higher Tantras in the Buddhism of Tibet. Specifically, the similarities between the archetypes of the dark feminine of thze Witch in the Western tradition of Christinaity and the Dakini, in the Tantric tradition of Tibet will be examined. The Dakini represents all those aspects of the feminine that are outside and beyond the control of male-dominated partiarchal culture and society, whether in the religious or secular contaxt. The speaker,formerly a lecturer in Comparitive religion in the US, is bothe an ordained ngakpa Lama in the Nyingmapa tradition of Tibet and a high priest in the Gardnerian tradition in the West.
Contact: Michael Gilmore, mikegilmorewisdom[at]yahoo.co.uk

December 2-3-4, 2016

Dzogchen and Mahayoga Tantra in Tibetan Buddhism
Lekdan Ling, Hackeney, London

Dzogchen, “the Great Perfection”, which teaches the path of self-liberation, is traditionally regarded in Tibet as the highest and most profound teaching of the Buddha. Introduced into Tibet in the eighth century of our era by the great Buddhist Tantric master Padmasambhava, who came from the country of Uddiyana in Central Asia, Dzogchen has been preserved until the present day, especially in the Nyingmapa school of Tibetan Buddhism. However, Padmasambhave taught Dzogchen to his Tibetan disciples largely in the context of the Mahayoga Tantra, which is found as both a continuous transmission from his own time, or Kama, and as re-discovered hidden treasure texts, or Termas. Dzogchen points directly to the nature of mind which is beyond the thought process, whereas Tantra is more concerned with working with energies and their transformations, in particular, transforming the energies of the negative emotions into positive enlightened awareness. In this seminar, we will examine the relationship of the mind-teachings of Dzogchen to the energy-transformation methods of the Mahayoga Tantras, especially with regard to that of Vajrakilaya as taught by HH Dudjom Rinpoche.
Contact: Kayo, k.lacina[at]gmail.com

Last update October 15, 2016

Last Updated on Saturday, 15 October 2016 21:55

SEMINARS WITH LAMA VAJRANATHA—
TEACHING SCHEDULE SPRING 2016
June 25-26, 2016
Practices of the Wrathful Lion-Headed Wisdom Dakini Simhamukha
Kunzang Ling Center, Szczecin, Poland [Weekend meditation seminar]

Generally, in terms of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dakini represents the autonomous feminine principle that is outside the control of patriarchal society and the rational male ego consciousness. For this reason, the Dakini may be represented as alluring and enchanting, but also as wrathful and terrifying. This seminar will look at the meditations, rituals, and magical practices associated with the wrathful lion-headed Dakini Simhamukha, mistress of enchantments, sorceries, and witchcraft, who brings all those beings who are difficult to subdue under her power, and who also vanquishes and subdues all obstacles, negativities, and evil spirits. Simhamukha was the personal practice of Guhyajnana Dakini, the female Guru of Padmasambhava in the Central Asian country of Uddiyana and he introduce4d the practice into Tibet. She remains a very popular practice in the Nyingmapa school of Tibetan Buddhism. For this purpose, we rely on the profound expositions of Jamgön Kongtrul, Jamyang Khyentse, and Dudjom Rinpoche regarding the practices for this Dakini, who is a manifestation of enlightened awareness.
Contact: Wojtek, info[at]kuntuzangpo.net

May 5-6-7-8, 2016
Tibetan Shamanism, Nature Spirits, and Healing the Earth
Nurenberg, South Germany [Two evening talks, weekend workshop]

May 5: Tibetan Concept of the Soul
This evening talk will examine the Tibetan concept of the soul, or La, from both the Buddhist and the shamanic viewpoints, and in terms of both the issues of healing and reincarnation. There are many Tibetan practices for retrieving lost fragments of the soul and reintegrating them in the individual and curing afflictions of the soul, which serves as the energetic basis of the emotional life of the individual.

May 6: Introduction to Tibetan Shamanism
This evening talk will provide an introduction to the practices of Tibetan shamanism as it is still practiced today in the Himalayas among native shamans known as Pawo and Lhapa, who practice healing and divinations relying upon their spirit guides.

May 7-8: Shamanic Practice and Nature Rituals of Ancient Tibet
Indian Buddhism, known as Vajrayana and based on the methods of the Buddhist Tantras, was introduced into Tibet by Guru Padmasambhava in the 8th century of our era. While in Tibet, Padmasambhava encountered a rich and ancient spiritual culture known as Bön, much of which dealt with shamanic practices for healing. Thus, he incorporated many of these shamanic methods into his Tantric Buddhist practices. Indeed, the roots of Tibetan culture lie deep within North Asian shamanism and this gives Tibetan culture its unique and colourful character. The principal function of this ancient shamanic practice is healing and the re-establishing of a harmonious relationship between the human world and the Other World of the spirits who inhabit the untamed wilds of nature. The workshop will focus upon various shamanic rituals and meditation practices employed in order to enter into a personal relationship with the local nature spirits and one’s spirit guides.

Contact: Carolin, carolin[at]praxis-drab.de

June 11-12,2016
Dzogchen Practice in the Context of the Vajrakilaya Tantra
Sambhala Center, Budapest [Two day seminar and workshop]

Vajrakilaya is the leading meditation deity practice in the Nyingmapa school of Tibet and this was one of the personal practices of Guru Padmasambhava, who introduced Vajrayana Buddhism into Tibet in the 8th century of our era. Usually the practice of Vajrakilaya is classified as Mahayoga Tantra. However, Padmasambhava also taught Vajrakilaya in terms of the practice of Anuyoga and of Atiyoga, or Dzogchen, to his close disciples, the Princess Yeshe Tsogyal and the translator Khyeuchunglo. This complete transmission of Vajrakilaya practices in terms of Maha, Anu, and Ati, was again revealed in the 19th century by the later’s reincarnation, Düdjom Lingpa, in Eastern Tibet. His Termas, or hidden treasure texts, became widely known as Düdjom Tersar, the New Treasures of Düdjom. His reincarnation in the 20th century, Düdjom Rinpoche, expanded on this exposition with his commentaries and his own Terma texts.This seminar will focus on Dzogchen in the context of Vajrakilaya practice from the Düdjom Tersar.

Contact: Marti, martihum[at]gmail.com
Info. Sambhala Center: sambhala[at]tibet.hu

June18-19, 2016
The Practice of Zhang-Zhung Meri in the Bön Tradition of Tibet
Sambhala Center, Budapest, Hungary [Two day seminar and workshop]

The spiritual traditions of Yungdrung Bön came to Central Tibet from the ancient kingdom of Zhang-zhung, lying to the northwest of Tibet. At the center of that land is the great great sacred mountain of Kailas where, according to tradition, the great god Gekhöd Meri resides even today. However, according to Yungdrung Bön, Gekhöd Meri is much more than just a local mountain god, but he is actually the manifestation of an enlighted being, Atimuwer. Gekhöd was not only the patron deity and Kailas the soul mountain (la-ri) of the Zhang-zhung kingdom, but Gekhöd, and his warrior aspect, Meri, was one of the major five meditation deities of the Bönpo Tantra system. He is closely associated with the Zhang-zhung Nyän-gyüd, the Oral Tradition of Dzogchen from Zhang-zhung, as its principal associated Tantric practice. This seminar will look into the myths, legends, and practices connected with Zhang-zhung Meri in the Bönpo tradition.

Contact: Marti, martihum[at]gmail.com
Last Updated on Thursday, 19 May 2016 21:31

SEMINARS WITH LAMA VAJRANATHA—
TEACHING SCHEDULE SUMMER-FALL 2015
June 19-20-21, 2015

The Practice of Kurukulla—The Dakini of Enchantment and Witchcraft
Vienna, Austria [Weekend meditation workshop]
It is said that the Wisdom Dakini Kurukulla originated in the Central Asia country of Uddiyana to the northwest of India, where she appeared in visions to the king Indrabhuti. Her name is translated into Tibetan as Rigjyedma, “she who is the cause of knowledge.” She early became very popular and remains so even today among the Tibetans because of her associatetion with the magical function of enchantment and attraction, or the bewitching of beings in order to bring them under one’s power. More than any other figure in the Buddhist pantheon, she becomes the Buddhist goddess of love and sex, much like the Western goddesses Aphrodite and Venus. She is depicted as a naked, voluptuous, and seductive sixteen year old girl, holding attributes suggesting her powers, such as an iron hook of attraction, a noose to bind others to her will, and a flower-entwined bow and arrow. But as a goddess of witchcraft, she is also akin to Diana. It is she who brings all those beings who are otherwise difficult to subdue under her power. But she is not a worldly goddess; rather she is an emanation of the female Buddha Tara in her red form and, therefore, she represents the expression of the enlightened awareness and skillful means of a Buddha. This seminar will look into the meditation and ritual practices of the Dakini Yoga associated with Kurukulla, the Wisdom Dakini of enchantments and witchcraft, who comes when invoked from the mystical realm of Khechara, the land of the Dakinis in the West. For this purpose, we rely on the profound expositions of Düdjom Rinpoche, as well as Jamgön Kongtrul and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo regarding the practices for this Wisdom Dakini
Contact: Florian Schnitzer, florian.lobsang.dorje[at]gmail.com

Teaching Retreats with Lopon Tenzin Namdak Summer-Fall 2015:

Lama Vajranatha will be present at these two retreats in Europe:

July 26-August 15, 2015

The European Retreat with Lopon Tenzin Namdak in France
Shenten Dargye Ling, near Saumur, Loire, France
Advanced Dzogchen Teachings from the final section ofr the Zhang-zhung Nyän-gyüd with Lopon Tenzin Namdak. Additional teachings with Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung.
Info : www.yungdrung-bon.net. Contact: shenten[at]wanadoo.fr.
Advance notice of attendence suggested.
September 11-15, 2015
“Dzogchen Teachings” with Lopon Tenzin Namdak and Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung.
Buddhasweg Seminar Centre, south of Frankfurt, Central Germany
Contact: Dorothea Mihm, mihm[at]praxis-adarsha.de
Advance notice of attendance suggested.

October 10-11, 2015

Accessing and Channeling Energies by way of TantricTransformation Practices in Tibetan Buddhism
Sambhala Center, Budapest, Hungary [Weekend workshop]
When the illustrious Buddhist master Padmasambhava introduced Vajrayana, the methods of the Buddhist Tantras, into Tibet in the 8th century of our era, he encountered the religious culture of Tibetan Shamanism, also known as Bön, then flourishing in that country. Rather than rejecting this, he integrated the indigenous practices of this shamanism with his own teachings of Buddhist Tantra. Moreover, he incorporated the old pre-Buddhist pagan mountain gods of Tibet into the Buddhist Mandala as Guardians and Dharma Protectors. It is this integration of the rich cultural heritage of indigenous Tibetan Shamanism with the profound Buddhist Tantra of Indian origin that gives Tibetan Buddhism its unique and colourful character.
Among our three dimensions of human existence, known in Buddhism as body, speech, and mind, Tantra principally relates to this aspect of speech, meaning our whole dimension of energy, and especially with mantra, or the creative power of sound. Through the practice of Tantric transformation, or seva-sadhana, the practitioner is able to access higher sources of energy and transform them in ways that internally bring about changes in consciousness and externally bring about changes in the immediate environment. Although the higher goals of Buddhist spiritual practices are liberation from suffering in Samsara and the attaining of Buddha enlightenment, until we attain such liberation and enlightenment, we still find ourselves in the relative condition of Samsara, daily faced with problems, troubles, and anxieties that obstruct our path to the realization of our full potenetial.
As Padmasambhava himself said in the Rinchen Bumzang, “Those who have now obtained a precious human rebirth and intelligence next need to free themselvres from incidental blocks and obstructions in the way of their path, thereby realizing benefits both in this present life and in future lives. Therefore, I shall teach here methods of skillful means for summoning good luck, prosperity, and protection.”
In this workshop, we shall explore and engage in the principal methods of sadhana transformation practice as taught by Padmasambhava for the accessing those higher energies and then channeling and directing them to better our conditions in daily life, both internally and externally.
Contact: Marti, martihum[at]gmail.com
Info Sambhala Center, sambhala[at]tibet.hu

October 17-18, 2015

Magical Action Practices for Prosperity and Protection in the Nyingmapa Tradition of Tibet
Shambhala Center, Budapest, Hungary [Weekend workshop]
Padmasambhava was not only a religious and spiritual master teaching Vajrayana Buddhism, the path to enlightenment and liberation from suffering in Samsara, but also an accomplished adept at the use of mantra action practices, which transform not only the individual, but also aspects of external circumstances. The practice of Buddhist Tantra is basically the working with energies in order to bring about transformations in accordance with the will and intention of the practitioner. For most of us the ultimate spiritual goal of liberation and enlightenment, requiring efforts over the ourse of many lifetimes.. However, in the meantime, we must deal with improving our present circumstances of life and to the removing of obstacles obstructing our path.
Traditionally Buddhist monks lived cloistered lives in monasteries, separating themselves from the everyday world of work, village, women, and family. However, the followers of Padmasambhava, known as Ngakpas, literally “those who use mantras,” lived and functioned effectively in the world. Therefore, Padmasambhava taught many practical methods for the realizing of abundance and prosperity, as well as protecting ourselves against psychic and magical attacks emanating from enemies and from hostile evil spirits.
From the very beginning, magical practice has always been very ecclectic and not limited to a single culture or religious tradition. Hence, in Tibet, we find many practices drawn from earlier Tibetan shamanic and Bönpo traditions which flourished in that land before the advent of Buddhism from India. Nevertheless, higher magical practice does require the cultivation of a magical will, or mthu, which is developed by way of meditation and sadhana. The emphasis here is always in terms of practices that work in everyday life for invoking prosperity and success, finding lovers, healing sicknesses, removing obstacles, dispatching servitors, confounding and overcoming one’s enemies, and counteracting psychic and magical attacks.
This workshop will include divination, meditation and visualization, mantras and invocations, and the use of materials in rituals for the channeling of energies and as offerings to the spirits.
Contact: Marti, martihum[at]gmail.com
Info Sambhala Center, sambhala[at]tibet.hu

October 23-24-25, 2015

Dying, Dreams, and Dark Retreat in the Bardo Drug-tri Teachings of Padmasambhava
Graz, Austria [Friday night talk, weekend meditation workshop]
This seminar will consider the esoteric teachings of the tantric master Padmasambhava known as the Bardo Drug-tri, the secret instructions concerning the Six Bardos, especially the close relationship of the dying process at the end of one’s present life to the process experienced every night when falling asleep and entering into the dream state. Both sleep yoga and dream yog as taught by Padmasambhava represent excelled preparations for the Bardo experience occuring after the death of our material body. Just as one may become lucid in dreams by way of dream yoga, so one may also become lucid in the Bardo, transforming it, and no longer finding ourselves as helpless passive victims of our karmic visions emanating from the past in this life and from previous lives.
Moreover, in the Yangti teachings of Padmasambhava, there are explanations of how the Dark Retreat may also serve as preparation for the fourty-nine experience of the Bardo after death and before one’s next rebirth. This also includes the practice of the Zhithro, or the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities. In this seminar, we shall consider the teachings and practices expounded by Padmasambhava, not only as they relate to the Bardo, but to the practices of Dream Yoga and the Dark Retreat.
Contact: Enrico, enricokosmus[at]gmail.com
Last Updated on Friday, 01 May 2015 07:20

SEMINARS WITH LAMA VAJRANATHA—TEACHING SCHEDULE WINTER 2014 – 2015

January 2-3-4, 2015

The Practice of Vision in the Dzogchen Tradition of Tibet
Maria Lankowitz (Near Graz), Austria [Weekend seminar and workshop]
In the tradition of the Nyingmapa school of Tibet, there exist three series of Dzogchen teachings: the Mind Series (semde), the Space Series (longde), and the Secret Instruction Series (mangagide). The first series mainly focuses on how to find oneself in contemplation, or the Natural State of the Nature of Mind. The principal method employed here is Zhine, or fixating the mind on a single object of meditation, at first something visual or visualized, and later on an enpty location in space without an object. The emphesis here is on Kadak, or the primordial purity of the state of contemplation, and this is also called Trekchöd, the total relaxation of all one’s rigidities and tensions of body, speech, and mind. The second series focuses on remaining in contemplation and eliminating all doubts regarding it nature, principally through sky meditation. The third series assumes one knows how to get into conteplation through whatever means and then the emphasis is on Lhundrub, the spontaneous, visible manifestations of energies potential within the Nature of Mind. Released from the overlay of obscurations, these manifest as visions. In turn, these develop until they become integrated into the Clear Light of Reality. This seminar will examine these three approaches to the practice of contemplation, known as Dzogchen Desum.
Contact: Enrico, enricokosmus[at]gmail.com

January 9-10-11, 2015

Simhamukha—The Lion-Headed Dakini of Wisdom and Magical Power
Munich, South Germany [Evening lecture and weekend meditation workshop]
The Dakini or Khandroma, literally “she who moves through space” or “she who goes in the sky,” is a manifestation of energy in female form. There are worldly Dakinis who are human beings, such as female spiritual teachers, or else witches possessing psychic powers, but also non-human Dakinis such as goddesses and nature spirits in female form. In addition, there are Wisdom Dakinis who are transcendent or beyond Samsara and represent manifestations of enlightened awareness in female form, such as the female Buddha Tara, or female Bodhisattvas such as Lakshmi and Sarasvati, or Guardians in female form like Ekajati and Palden Lhamo. Externally; the manifestation of the Dakini may be a goddess, a spirit, or a witch, but this appearance is always a manifestation of feminine mystery and power. Internally, the Dakini is an image spontaneously manifesting in human consciousness, and secretly, the Dakini represents the wisdom aspect of Buddha enlightenment itself. For the male practitioner, or yogi, the Dakini embodies wisdom and acts as his initiator into the mysteries of the Higher Tantras, whereas for the female practitioner, or yogini, the Dakini represents her potential for the awakening and realization of feminine power and intuitive wisdom within herself. The lion-headed Dakini Simhamukha is such a Wisdom Dakini and is especially associated with Guru Padmasambhava, who had received her empowerment from his own female Guru, Guhyajnana, in the Central Asian country of Uddiyana. Simhamukha, as the patron goddess of witchcraft and sorcery, especially functions for protection and for the averting of negative energies and psychic attacks. This weekend will explore the meditations for accessing and developing the Dakini energy of Simhamukha and how this may be channelled to realize concrete practical and magical results through visualization and ritual.
Contact: Benno, info060-reg[at]yahoo.de

January 23, 2015

Tibetan Shamanism and the World of the Spirits
Sambhala Centre, Budapest, Hungary [Friday evening talk]
Before 1959 with the Tibetan lamas coming into exile, in the romantic view of the West, Tibet was largely an unknown region, a blank place on the world map onto which we could project our imaginary fantasies of a mysterious land of psychic supermen and masters of wisdom. But the actual historical Tibet is a far more interesting culture than these Western fantasies, with its roots going back to very ancient times, a culture fully comparable to those of Ancient India and China. The pre-Buddhist religious culture of Tibet focused upon the mighty mountain gods of that country, the Yul-lha, and their consorts, the beautiful Mänmo, or lake goddesses, as well as upon the local nature spirits known as Zhidak. Since earliest times, the indigenous shamans of Tibet, known as Lhapa and Pawo, were specialist practitioners who, upon entering into an altared state of consciousness by way of chanting and drumming, were able to communicate directly with these entities, propitiate them, and at times even subdue these local nature spirits who inhabited the vast mountainous environment of wild untamed nature. With the coming of Indian Buddhism to Tibet, Guru Padmasambhava took on the role of the archetypal shaman and magician in order to subdue these native pagan godsw and spirits. In this evening talk, we shall consider the roots of Tibetan culture in Ancient Central and Northern Asian shamanism.
Contact: Sambhala Center, sambhala[at]tibet.hu

January 24-25, 2015

Shamanism, Magic, and Witchcraft in Old Tibet
Sambhala Centre, Budapest, Hungary [Weekend workshop]
Human existence has its three dimensions of body, speech, nad mind, where “speech” means energy and refers to the whole dimension of energy of a living being, and this also includes emotions and vision, that is to say, how we perceive the world about us. This aspect of energy includes mantra, the creative power of sound to call something, whether phenomenon or event, into existence out of the state of Shunyata, the pure potentiality for all possible manifestatrions. In terms of traditional Tibetan culture, magic or Trul (phrul) meant the working with energies, and in particular, with the methods of accessing higher sources of energy (bsnyen-pa), augmenting and increasing that energy within the alchemical vessel of one’s own physical body (sgrub-pa), and finally directing and channeling that energy to effect not only changes in consciousness, but changes in the external environment (las sbyor). This was accomplished by way of cultivating and developing one’s magical capacity, or will-power, known as T’u (mthu), within one’s mindstream through the practice of Sadhana. This process of transforming and directing energies entailed ritual, incantatioin, and visualization, as well as the creative capacity of mantra. However, the motivation of every genuine Buddhist practitioner, whether with regard to the high magic of the Tantras coming from India, or the more worldly indigenous folk magic, is that of the Bodhichitta: compassion for others and the desire to benefit and liberate all sentient beings. In this weekend seminar, we shall look at and practice some methods to develop the capacity for magical action practice relating to the Dakinis and to the Wrathful Deities in Tibetan Buddhism and folk culture.
Contact: Sambhala Center, sambhala[at]tibet.hu

January 30, 2015

Divination, Karma, and Destiny in Tibetan Buddhism
Sambhala Centre, Budapest, Hungary [Friday evening talk]
Divination (mo) is a wide-spread and very popular practice among the Tibetans from most ancients times and even in our modern world today. A variety of methods for foretelling the future are widely employed with various degrees of complexity and sophistication. Some of these methods came to Tibet with the spread of Indian Buddhism, beginning in the 8th century. Others were of indigenous origin from Bön and Tibetan folk religion. But in terms of Buddhist philosophy, how is divination even possible? The Buddha taught the doctrine of karma, that the actions good and bad committed by an individual in one’s past life have consequences that come into fruition in one’s present life and in future lives. No event occurs in isolation. An event exists in relation to antecedent events as causes in relation to secondary causes manifesting in the present. This principle is called Tendrel, or interdependent origination. In particular, the term refers to an auspicious conjunction of events. This being the case, the future is not somethings precisely predetermined and it is possible to change future events. We are not passive helpless victims of some invisible destiny. This evening talk will examine the question of divination, karma, and fate or destiny in the Tibetan tradition.
Contact: Sambhala Center, sambhala[at]tibet.hu

January 31, February 1, 2015

Methods of Divination in Tibetan Buddhism
Sambhala Centre, Budapest, Hungary [Weekend divination workshop]
The usual reason that Tibetan lay people consult a Lama is not for instruction in meditation practices, as is often the case nowadays among Westerners interested in the Buddhist teachings, but in order to receive a blessing (chinlab) from a Lama and in order to have him do a divination (mo) for them regarding the questions of daily life. Probably the most popular form of divination among the Tibetans is performed by counting off beads on a rosary, a process known as Treng-mo. Generally, every form of divination practice is under the patronage and guidance of a particular deity (yidam), such as Tara or Manjushri, or a particular guardian spirit (sungma), such as Palden Lhamo, who is sometimes said to be a wrathful aspect of the wisdom goddess Sarasvati. With this method, three dice are used in a process known as Sho-mo. In this case, a Mo-pe, or divination manual, is consulted under the appropriate numerical reading and the prognostications (chya) are arranged according to catagories of interest. In particular, during the weekend, we will examine the method of divination associated with Manjushri and his Arapatsana mantra. He is the great Bodhisattva who embodies the transcendental wisdom of all the Buddhas of the three times and fore-knowledge of the future..
Contact: Sambhala Center, sambhala[at]tibet.hu

February 6-7-8, 2015

The Practice of Life-Force and Soul Retrieval in Tibet
Frankfurt, Central Germany [Friday evening talk and weekend workshop]
Originating in the old shamanic traditions of Northern Central Asia, the practices of La-gug and La-lü, or recalling the soul, are found in both Tibetan Buddhism and the pre-Buddhist religious tradition of Tibet known as Bön, from which they ultimately derive. The La or soul is the energetic basis for the emotional life of the individual human being. However, it can be weakened through a life of dissipation and dishonorable conduct, where the individual is abandoned by one’s Sunglha or guardian spirits, or else from trauma and abuse. Moreover, fragments of the soul may become lost or even stolen by evil spirits and black magicians for nefarious purposes. At night, the soul may separate from the physical body and wander about, coming under the influence of wandering spirits, or even become lost in obscure regions of the landscapes of the unconscious mind. Soul loss (la khyampa) is characterized by such symptoms as chronic depression, disorientation, confusion, energy loss, inertia, a general loss of vitality and enthusiasm for life, and so on. There exist, however, methods to recover these lost fragmenst of the soul and strengthen the soul and one’s vitality. These practices serve to recall lost or stolen fragments of the soul, returning the soul (la), as well as the life-force (sok), to wholeness and integration, both in this present life and in the Bardo after death. We shall look at these practices in terms of ritual and meditation for healing in Tibetan Shamanism, as well as the Buddhist and the Bönpo traditions.
Contact: Dorothea, mihm[at]praxis-adarsha.de
Last Updated on Monday, 29 December 2014 20:05

June 7, 2014

Practices with the Wisdom Dakinis Simhamukha and Kurukulla

Brooklyn, New York [Saturday afternoon seminar]

Wisdom Dakinis represent energy in female form, but they are not worldly goddesses and spirits who are still caught up in Samsara, the cycle of rebirth. Rather, they are manifestations of wisdom and enlightened awareness, being emanations from female Buddhas such as Samantabhadri and Tara. Wisdom Dakinis may be fierce and wrathful such as the lion-headed Simhamukha, who subdues and transforms negative energies and whose special function is the averting and repelling of magical and psychic attacks. Or they may be joyous and seductive like Kurukulla, who attracts and magnetizes beings, bringing them under her enlightened power. In this seminar, we shall look into some of the protection methods and defenses against psychic and magical attacks associated with these two Wisdom Dakinis.

Contact: James Bae, baeacusamaya[at]gmail.com

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April 4, 2014

Spirit and Soul in Tibetan Buddhism and Western Thought

Pomeranian Library, Szczecin, Poland [Friday evening talk]

The Western understanding of the spirit and the soul is generally perceived in the Christian context. However, the Christian tradition arose from out of two sources. the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament on the one hand and Greek philosophy, especially Platonism and Stoicism on the other. But one must ask what is spirit and what is soul? Is the soul torn between worldly desires of the flesh pulling it downward, and the spiritual aspiration for salvation and heaven calling it upward? How does this view compare with the perspectives of the Buddhism of Tibet, which is often thought to deny the existence of a self and a soul? Buddhism represents a spiritual path to liberation and enlightenment, but what role does the native Tibetan shamanic concept of the soul play in this context. The two great spiritual traditions, Christianity and Buddhism, provide a fruitful dialogue that address the fundamental and ultimate questions that face human life and existence.

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April 5-6, 2014

“Buddha Without Meditation” according to Dudjom Lingpa

Szczecin, Poland [Friday evening talk]

The famous text known in Tibetan as the Nang-jyang, “The Purification of Appearances,presents the view of Dzogchen through the approach known as Trekchöd, “cutting through rigidities.” The 19th century dzogchen and tantric master, Düdjom Lingpa (-) received these teachings in visionary experiences where he entered into a dialogue with fourteen enlightened beings, including Avalokiteshvara, Vajrapani, Longchenpa, and Saraha. The Düdjom Tersar lineage is based upon Termas, or reediscovered trasure texts attributed to Guru Padmasambhava in the 8th century CE. In his next reincarnation as His Holiness Düdjom Rinpoche (1904-1987), later head of the Nyingmapa school of Tibetan Buddhism, the transmission of these Termas were widely propagated among both Tibetans and Westerners in the modern world. This seminar taught by a direct Western disciple of His Holiness will explicate and elucidate some of the issues raised in this text.

Contact: Wojtek and Bartek: info[at]kuntuzangpo.net

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April 26-27, 2014

Advanced Vajrakilaya Practice according to the Dudjom Tersar Tradition

Sambhala Center, Budapest, Hungary [Weekend meditation workshop]

His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje (1904-1987), during the latter part of his lifetime the Supreme Head of the Nyingmapa School of Tibetan Buddhism, was one of the greatest masters of Dzogchen and Buddhist Tantra in Tibet in recent times. Rinpoche was not only an accomplished Tantric Yogi and Terton (discover of hidden treasure texts), but a profound scholar of the Buddhist tradition of Tibet. Born in Southern Tibet, he was recognized as a reincarnation of one of the original twenty-five disciples of Guru Padmasambhava who established Vajrayana, the Tantric form of Buddhism, in Tibet in the 8th century of our era. The hidden treasure texts, or Termas, discovered by Dudjom Rinpoche and his previous incarnation, Dudjom Lingpa, are collectively known as Dudjom Tersar, “the New Treasures of Dudjom.” They particularly focus upon the practices associated with Phurpa or Vajrakilaya, “the diamond-like magical three-bladed dagger,”which overcomes and destroys demons and obstructing spirits, especially as represented by the Rudra demons of inflated ego.

In general, the function of Phurpa practice is to overcome obstacles and demolish negative energies afflicting the life of the individual practitioner.

These methods include the higher spiritual practices (stod-las) for attaining liberation and enlightenment and the more practical magical ritual actions (smad-las) for subduing and transforming negative energy in daily life. This course will introduce some of these ritual practices for Vajrakilaya according to the Dudjom Tersar, in particular, the sPu-gri reg-phung, “the Razor that Destroys at a Touch.”

Contact: Sambhala Center, sambhala[at]tibet.hu

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May 2-3-4, 2014

Dzogchen Meditation Practice according to the Three Statements of Garab Dorje

Maria Lankowitz, near Graz, Austria

According to the Nyingmapa school of Tibetan Buddhism, the teachings of Dzogchen, “the Great Perfection,” were first expounded by the Buddhist Mahasiddha Garab Dorje in the country of Uddiyana, which in ancient times lay to the northwest of India. This tradition of Buddhist teaching, which directly introduces the meditation practioner to the Nature of Mind, was transmitted to India by Manjushrimitra and Srisimha and later to Tibet by Guru Padmasambhava, Mahapandita Vimalamitra, and the Tibetan translator Vairochana. The essence of Garab Dorje’s presentation of the precepts of Dzogchen practice was distilled in his last testament, “The Three Statements that Strike the Essentials.” In the 19th century, the famous Buddhist master from Eastern Tibet, Patrul Rinpoche, wrote a brilliant commentary on these three statements, together with some of the practices relating to them, entitled “The Special Teaching of the Wise and Glorious King.”

Dzogchen, which teaches the Path of Self-Liberation, is traditionally regarded in Tibet as the highest and most profound teaching of the Buddha. Dzogchen teachings and practice have been preserved until the present day, especially among the Nyingmapa and Kagyudpa schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In terms of meditation practice, Dzogchen distinguishes between “the mind”, or the normal thought process that is cyclical and Samsaric in nature, and “the Nature of Mind”, which is the primordial state of enlightenment in the individual, which lies beyond all time, conditioning, and causality. Although inconceivable by the finite intellect and inexpressible in words, as the very ground of our existence as living beings, this Natural State of the Nature of Mind can be directly encountered within our immediate experience. By way of direct introduction and meditation practice, this primordial, yet ever-present, state of Buddhahood, which resides at the very core of every individual living being, is revealed like the brilliant face of the sun in the sky when the dark clouds of ignorance and delusion are dissipated.

This seminar will focus on the translation of the root text of Patrul Rinpoche and its auto-commentary as providing a doorway for entering into the meditation practices of Dzogchen.

Contact: Enrico, enricokosmus[at]gmail.com

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May 9-10-11, 2014

Dakinis and Guardians

Munich, South Germany [Weekend meditation workshop]

Everywhere through out the Buddhist world, practitioners of this tradition take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the sangha. However, one does not take refuge in the worldly gods, though one might otherwise propitiate them, because they are still caught up inside Samsara, the beginning-less cycle of death and rebirth,, and therefore do not know the means and way to attain liberation from Samsara. However, in the Tantric Buddhist tradition of Tibet, there is also the inner refuge, firstly in the Guru, or spiritual teacher, secondly to the Yidams or meditation deities, and thirdly to the Dakinis and the Dharmapalas. A Dakini is a manifestation of energy in female form. So, there are Worldly dakinis, such as goddesses and witches,but beyond them there are Wisdom Dakinis, such as Vajravarahi, Simhamukha, Kurukulla, and so on, who are not worldly beings inside Samsara but manifestations of enlightened awareness. Included with the dakinis in this third refuge are the Dharmapalas, or Dharma Protectors. In the same way, there are Worldly Guardians, gods and spirits that have been subdues by Padmasambhava and other masters, who have placed them under strict vows to henceforth protect the Dharma and its practitioners. But there are also Transcendent Guardians who are manifestations, usually in wrathful forms, of the compassion of enlightened beings, the Buddhas and the great Bodhisattvas, in order to subdue and protect against evil spirits and negative energies, such Guardians as for example as Mahakala and Ekajati. This seminar will focus on the rituals and magical practices connected with the Wiusdom Dakinis and the Guardians.out

Contact: Benno, info060-reg[at]yahoo.de
Last Updated on Saturday, 24 May 2014 11:56

SEMINARS WITH LAMA VAJRANATHA—FALL SCHEDULE 2013

Teaching Retreats with Lopon Tenzin Namdak Summer-Fall 2013:
Lama Vajranatha will be present at these two retreats in Europe.

July 21-August 8, 2013

The European Retreat with Lopon Tenzin Namdak in France
Shenten Dargye Ling, near Saumur, Loire, France
Advanced Dzogchen Teachings from the Zhang-zhung Nyän-gyüd with Lopon Tenzin Namdak. Additional teachings with Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung.
Info : yungdrung-bon.net
Contact: shenten[at]wanadoo.fr
Advance notice of attendence suggested.

September 13-17, 2013

Ying-Rig Dzö: Dzogchen Teachings of Shardza Rinpoche with Lopon Tenzin Namdak,
Buddhasweg Seminar Centre, south of Frankfurt, Central Germany
Contact: Dorothea Mihm, mihm[at]praxis-adarsha.de
Advance notice of attendence suggested.

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October 12-13, 2013

Magical Attraction Practices with Kurukulla and Mahadeva
Sambhala Center, Budapast, Hungary [Weekend workshop]
In the Higher Tantras of Tibetan Buddhsim, known as Anuttara Tantra, there are four principal kinds of magical activities, corresponding to the colors white, yellow, red, and green. Nevertheless, in each case in terms of Buddhism, the motivation of any Trinlay, or magical action practice, is always Bodhichitta, or compassion for all sentient beings and the desire to release them from their suffering experienced in Samsara. Vashikarana, or red magic, functions to attract, overpower, and magnetize whatever obstacles may appear on the spiritual path. These are then brought under one’s power and transformed into helpers and benefactors. Kurukulla, the Wisdom Dakini of Enchantment and Witchcraft, is the patroness of such magical activity and she is assisted in this by the Guardian deities Mahadeva and Uma. This seminar will examine and practice some of these methods associated with the sadhana for Kurukulla and the invocations of Mahadeva.
Contact: sambhala.hu[at]gmail.com; martihum[at] gmail.com

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December 6-7-8, 2013

Protection Practices with the Wisdom Dakinis Simhamukha and Kurukulla
München, South Germany [Friday night talk, weekend seminar and workshop]
Wisdom Dakinis represent energy in female form, but they are not worldly goddesses and spirits who are still caught up in Samsara, the cycle of rebirth. Rather, they are manifestations of wisdom and enlightened awareness, being emanations from female Buddhas such as Samantabhadri and Tara. Wisdom Dakinis may be fierce and wrathful such as the lion-headed Simhamukha, who subdues and transforms negative energies and whose special function is the averting and repelling of magical attacks. Or they may be joyous and seductive like Kurukulla, who attracts and magnetizes beings, bringing them under her enlightened power. In this seminar, we shall look into and practice some of the protection methods and defences against psychic and magical attacks associated with these two Wisdom Dakinis.
Contact: Benno, info060-reg[at]yahoo.de
Last Updated on Friday, 27 September 2013 10:00

SEMINARS WITH LAMA VAJRANATHA
Spring SCHEDULE 2013
February 23-24, 2013

Kurukulla—The Dakini of Enchantment and Witchcraft

Budapest, Hungary [Weekend meditation workshop]

The Dakini or Khandroma, literally “she who moves through space” or “she who goes in the sky,” is a manifestation of energy in female form. There are worldly Dakinis who are human beings such as female spiritual teachers or else witches possessing psychic powers, but also non-human Dakinis such as goddesses and nature spirits in female form. In addition, there are Wisdom Dakinis who are transcendent or beyond Samsara and represent the manifestations of enlightened awareness in female form, such as the female Buddha Tara, or female Bodhisattvas such as Lakshmi and Sarasvati, or Guardians in female form like Ekajati. In the Tantric Buddhism of Tibet, the Dakini embodies the Wisdom Principle of Buddha enlightenment, for which reason she is said to be the Consort of all the Buddhas. More generally, in terms of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dakini represents the feminine principle that is outside the control of patriarchal society and the rational male ego consciousness. For this reason, the Dakini may be represented as alluring and enchanting, but also as wrathful and terrifying and dangerous to men. This course will look at the meditation and ritual practices associated with Kurukulla, the Dakini of enchantments and witchcraft, coming from the mystical land of Uddiyana, the land of the Dakinis. It is she who brings all those beings who are otherwise difficult to subdue under her power.

This course will survey the importance of the Dakini Principle in the Higher Tantra practice of Tibetan Buddhism and introduce some of the ritual and meditation practices connected with Dakini Yoga of Kurukulla. For this purpose, we rely on the profound expositions of Jamgön Kongtrul and Jamyang Khyentse regarding the practices for this Dakini who is a manifestation of enlightened awareness, as well as the ritual text of the Kurukulla Kalpa.

Contact: Sambhala Centre, sambhala[at]tibet.hu Marti, martihum[at]gmail.com

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March 1-2-3, 2013

Magical Practices with Vajrakilaya and Simhamukha

Rangsher Ling Ngakpahaus, Lahr, South Germany [Weekend workshop]

The ultimate goal of Buddhist spiritual practice is liberation from suffering in Samsara and the attaining of Buddha enlightenment. But until that ultimate goal is attained after the course of many lifetimes, the individual practitioner must deal with the practical problems of this present life on earth. Therefore, in terms of the Buddhist tradition, there are many secondary practices in relation to the meditation deities Vajrakilaya and Simhamukha, especially those from the Dudjom Tersar lineage of the Nyingmapa school of Tibet, which deal with such problems as healing, life extension, prosperity, fending off attacks of negative energy from enemies and spirits, and so on.

His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje (1904-1987), during the latter part of his lifetime the Supreme Head of the Nyingmapa School of Tibetan Buddhism, was one of the greatest masters of Dzogchen and Buddhist Tantra in Tibet in recent times. Rinpoche was not only an accomplished Tantric Yogi and Terton (discover of hidden treasure texts), but a profound scholar of the Buddhist tradition of Tibet. Born in Southern Tibet, he was recognized as a reincarnation of one of the original twenty-five disciples of Guru Padmasambhava who established Vajrayana, the Tantric form of Buddhism, in Tibet in the 8th century of our era. The hidden treasure texts, or Termas, discovered by Dudjom Rinpoche and his previous incarnation, Dudjom Lingpa, are collectively known as Dudjom Tersar, “the New Treasures of Dudjom.” They particularly focus upon the practices associated with Phurpa or Vajrakilaya, “the diamond-like magical three-bladed dagger,”which overcomes and destroys demons and obstructing spirits, especially as represented by the Rudra demons of inflated ego.

In general, the function of Phurpa practice is to overcome obstacles and demolish negative energies afflicting the life of the individual practitioner. These methods include the higher spiritual practices (stod-las) for attaining liberation and enlightenment and the more practical ritual actions (smad-las) for transforming energy in daily life. The principal function of the lion-headed Dakini Simhamukha is the deflecting and averting (zlog-pa) of magical and psychic attacks. This seminar will examine some of these practices.

Contact: Bran, info[at]tibet-lahr.de

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March 7, 2013

Dakinis–The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism

Pommeranian Library [Afternoon lecture, gratis]

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March 9-10, 2013

Practices of the Wrathful Lion-Headed Dakini Simhamukha

Szczecin, Poland [Weekend meditation workshop]

Generally, in terms of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dakini represents the autonomous feminine principle that is outside the control of patriarchal society and the rational male ego consciousness. For this reason, the Dakini may be represented as alluring and enchanting, but also as wrathful and terrifying. This seminar will look at the meditations, rituals, and magical practices associated with the wrathful lion-headed Dakini Simhamukha, mistress of enchantments, sorceries, and witchcraft, who brings all those beings who are difficult to subdue under her power, and who also vanquishes and subdues all obstacles, negativities, and evil spirits. Simhamukha was the personal practice of Guhyajnana Dakini, the female Guru of Padmasambhava in the Central Asian country of Uddiyana and he introduced the practice into Tibet. She remains a very popular practice in the Nyingmapa school of Tibetan Buddhism. For this purpose, we rely on the profound expositions of Jamgön Kongtrul, Jamyang Khyentse, and Dudjom Rinpoche regarding the practices for this Dakini, who is a manifestation of enlightened awareness.

Contact: Wojtek and Bartek, info[at]kuntuzangpo.net

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March 22-23-24, 2013

Tantra and Dzogchen in the Buddhist and Bonpo Traditions of Tibet

Warsaw, Poland [Friday afternoon talk, weekend meditation workshop]

Meditation practice has always been at the core of Buddhism everywhere in Asia, and this is also true of the related Bonpo tradition of Tibet. Accordingly, the teachings and the practices revealed by the Buddha may be classified into the three levels of Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen, corresponding to the three dimensions of human existence of body, energy, and mind. Sutra is mainly concerned with the nature of human existence in the world, especially one’s ethical conduct and behavior towards other living beings in this present life. Nevertheless, meditation practice at the Sutra level is fundamental and is decidedly psychological in its approach. Tantra is more concerned with the individual’s dimension of energy, that is to say, how to access energy and then how to direct and channel it for specific purposes, such as healing. Dzogchen, however, represents the discovery of the nature of mind in one’s immediate experience at the core of one’s being. All three approaches aim at the attaining of liberation from suffering in Samsara and the realizing of enlightened awareness as the essence of one’s being. We shall investigate the foundations of meditation practice in both the Buddhist and the Bonpo traditions of Tibet and in the weekend workshop the emphasis will be on actual meditation practice.

Contact: Monika, info[at]dhamma.org.pl

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May 10-11-12, 2013

Shamanic and Buddhist Healing Practices in the Traditions of Tibet

München, South Germany [Friday talk and weekend workshop]

When Indian Buddhism came to Central Tibet in the 7th-8th centuries, it encountered a rich and flourishing religious culture characterized by shamanic practices. The principal function of this Tibetan shamanism was that of healing, especially of the impact upon human beings of negative energies (gdon) and hostile spirits (bgegs) residing in the wild places of nature. Such nature spirits would often become offended and irritated at humans because of their careless or deliberate polluting and dispoiling of the natural environment, which represented the home and residence of these spirits. Being energy beings, these spirits could then impinge upon the the personal energy fields, or auras, of those human individuals who had incured their hostility. Here in this weekend workshop we will principally be concerned with healing meditations and protection practices against negative energies, as well as the use of mantra-infused healing waters and fumigations, drawn from the ancient Tibetan traditions of Buddhism, Bön, and Shamanism.

Contact: Benno, info060-reg[at]yahoo.de

Last Updated on Tuesday, 26 February 2013 08:24

SEMINARS WITH LAMA VAJRANATHA—FALL SCHEDULE 2012
Teaching Retreats with Lopon Tenzin Namdak Summer-Fall 2012:
Lama Vajranatha will be present at these two retreats in Europe.

July 22-August 12, 2012

The European Retreat with Lopon Tenzin Namdak in France

Shenten Dargye Ling, near Saumur, Loire, France

Advanced Dzogchen Teachings from the Zhang-zhung Nyän-gyüd with Lopon Tenzin Namdak. Additional teachings with Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung.

Info : www.yungdrung-bon.net

Contact: shenten[at]wanadoo.fr

Advance notice of attendance suggested

September 27-30, 2012

The Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen with Lopon Tenzin Namdak,
Buddhasweg Seminar Centre, south of Frankfurt, Central Germany

Yongdzin Rinpoche, Lopon Tenzin Namdak, the greatest living master of Dzogchen within the Bonpo tradition of Tibet, will teach a retreat in Germany on the ancient text entitled “The Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen,” from the cycle of the Namkha Thrul-dzöd, “the Magical Treasury of the Sky,” by the enlightened Dzogchen master Drenpa Namkha. Having been a master of Dzogchzen meditation practice in both the Bonpo and the Buddhist traditions, and completely rejecting all narrow sectarianism, Drenpa Namkha was among the Twenty-Five Disciples of Guru Padmasambhava in Central Tibet in the 8th century of our era. After having concealed many Terma texts himself dealing with the practice of Dzogchen, this master composed this short text distilling the very essence of all these teachings. Beginning with the qualities necessary in a master and in a student, the view, meditation, conduct, and result of Dzogchen practice is discussed in lucid detail, as well as providing descriptions of higher states of consciousness and practices in preparation for the Bardo experience after death. During the retreat and based on this text, Rinpoche will provide instructions for the practice of Dzogchen.

Contact: Dorothea Mihm, mihm[at]praxis-adarsha.de

October 6-7, 2011

Magical Practices with Vajrakilaya–Practice Retreat
Sambhala Centrum, Budapest, Hungary

[Practice retreat]

The ultimate goal of Buddhist spiritual practice is liberation from suffering in Samsara and the attaining of Buddha enlightenment. But until that ultimate goal is attained after the course of many lifetimes, the individual practitioner must deal with the practical problems of this present life on earth. Therefore, in terms of the Buddhist tradition, there are many secondary practices in relation to the meditation Deity Vajrakilaya, especially those from the Dudjom Tersar lineage of the Nyingmapa school of Tibet, which deal with such problems as healing, life extension, prosperity, fending off attacks of negative energy from enemies and spirits, and so on. This seminar will examine some of these practices.

Contact: Sambhala Centre, sambhala[at]tibet.hu; Marti, martihum[at]gmail.com

October 13-14, 2012

The Practice of the Female Buddha Tara and Her Twenty-One Forms
Sambhala Centrum, Budapest, Hungary

[Weekend meditation retreat]

The Dakini or Khandroma, literally “she who moves through space” or “she who goes in the sky,” is a manifestation of energy in female form. There are worldly Dakinis who are human beings such as female spiritual teachers or else witches possessing psychic powers, but also non-human Dakinis such as goddesses and nature spirits in female form. In addition, there are Wisdom Dakinis who are transcendent or beyond Samsara and represent the manifestations of enlightened awareness in female form, such as the female Buddha Tara, or female Bodhisattvas such as Lakshmi and Sarasvati, or Guardians in female form like Ekajati and Paldän Lhamo. In the Tantric Buddhism of Tibet, the Dakini embodies the Wisdom Principle of Buddha enlightenment, for which reason she is said to be the Consort of all the Buddhas. More generally, the Dakini represents the feminine principle that is outside the control of patriarchal society and the rational male ego consciousness. This course will survey the importance of the Dakini Principle in the Higher Tantra practice of Tibetan Buddhism and introduce some of the ritual and meditation practices connected with Dakini Yoga.

Contact: Sambhala Center, sambhala[at]tibet.hu; Marti, martihum[at]gmail.com

October 19-20-21, 2012

Padmasambhava, Dzogchen, and Buddhist Meditation
Iserlohn, Central Germany

[Evening lecture, weekend meditation workshop]

Dzogchen, “the Great Perfection”, which teaches the Path of Self-Liberation, is traditionally regarded in Tibet as the highest and most profound teaching of the Buddha. Introduced into Tibet in the eighth century of our era by the great Buddhist Tantric master Padmasambhava, who came from the country of Uddiyana in Central Asia, Dzogchen has been practiced until the present day, especially among the Nyingmapa and Kagyudpa schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In terms of meditation practice, Dzogchen distinguishes between “the mind”, or the normal thought process that is cyclical and samsaric in nature, and “the Nature of Mind”, which is the primordial state of enlightenment that lies beyond all time, conditioning, and causality. Although inconceivable by the finite intellect and inexpressible in words, as the very ground of our existence as living beings, this Natural State can be directly encountered within our immediate experience. By way of direct introduction and meditation practice, this primordial, yet everpresent, state of Buddhahood, which resides at the very core of every individual living being, is revealed like the brilliant face of the sun in the sky when the dark clouds of ignorance and delusion are dissipated. This will be a two-day introductory workshop for Dzogchen and some other methods of Buddhist meditation, including the Guru Yoga of Padmasambhava, with an emphasis on practice and how meditation can be integrated into one’s daily life.

Contact: Christoph Tillmann, christophtillmann[at]gmx.de, tel. 01702-120786, Reinhold, reinhold_jacob[at]web.de

October 26-27-28, 2012

Healing the Soul in Tibetan Buddhism and Shamanism
München, South Germany

[Evening lecture, weekend meditation workshop]

From its very beginning, healing has always been at the heart of Buddhist practice. When Indian Buddhism came to Tibet in the early Middle Ages, it amalgamated with the indigenous healing practices of Bön and Tibetan Shamanism. Sicknesses, whether physical, energetic, or mental could be due to natural causes such as seasonal changes, bad diet, or imbalances in the humors, but indigenous Tibetan traditions emphasized the importance of counteracting negative provocations of energy emanating from the spirits inhabiting the natural environment. Such negative provocations (dön) may be directed at individuals who, for one reason or another, have destroyed or polluted the natural environment which is the home of these spirits. Not only is one’s Tse, or life-force, at risk here from such attacks, but also one’s La, or soul, which serves as the energetic support for the individual’s emotional life. This seminar will examine some of the methods used in Tibetan tradition to defend against attack and heal the La.

Contact: Benno, info060-reg[at]yahoo.de

November 9-10-11, 2012

Dzogchen, and Buddhist Meditation
Bielefeld, Central Germany

[Evening lecture, weekend meditation workshop]

Dzogchen, “the Great Perfection”, which teaches the Path of Self-Liberation, is traditionally regarded in Tibet as the highest and most profound teaching of the Buddha. Introduced into Tibet in the eighth century of our era by the great Buddhist Tantric master Padmasambhava, who came from the country of Uddiyana in Central Asia, Dzogchen has been preserved until the present day, especially among the Nyingmapa and Kagyudpa schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In terms of meditation practice, Dzogchen distinguishes between “the mind”, or the normal thought process that is cyclical and Samsaric in nature, and “the Nature of Mind”, which is the primordial state of enlightenment that lies beyond all time, conditioning, and causality. Although inconceivable by the finite intellect and inexpressible in words, as the very ground of our existence as living beings, this Natural State can be directly encountered within our immediate experience. By way of direct introduction and meditation practice, this primordial, yet ever-present, state of Buddhahood, which resides at the very core of every individual living being, is revealed like the brilliant face of the sun in the sky when the dark clouds of ignorance and delusion are dissipated. Here, among the three series of Dzogchen teachings, we shall focus on the methods of Dzogchen Upadesha, with an emphasis on practice and how meditation can be integrated into one’s daily life. During this weekened workshop, some of the basic methods of Dzogchen, known as Semdzin and Rushans; will be taught and practiced, which aim at totally relaxing all our tensions and rigidities of body, energy, and mind.

Contact: Miguel, mparacelsus[at]arcor.de

November 16-17-18, 2012

Teaching with Lopon Ogyen Tenzin
Sczcecin, Poland

Lama Vajranatha will be in attendence.

Contact: Wojtek and Bartek, info[at]kuntuzangpo.net

Last Updated on Friday, 20 July 2012 20:00

SEMINARS WITH LAMA VAJRANATHA
WINTER-SPRING SCHEDULE 2012
January 14-15, 2012
The Anuyoga Practices of Vajrakilaya:
The Transformation of Bliss and Desire
Sambhala Center, Budapest, Hungary

[Weekend meditation workshop]

The principal meditation practice in the Tantra system of Vajrayana, or Tibetan Buddhism, is that of Sadhana, the process of realization, where, by means of imagination and the power of thought, the practitioner creates and enters into a virtual reality. In the initial visualization process of Mahayoga, higher spiritual energy is invoked to descend and channelled through the archetypal imagery of the Yidam meditation deity and actualized in the sacred space of the Mandala in order to realize concrete results in one’s life. In the perfection process of Anuyoga, the practioner comes to experience what the Yidam in the Mandala is experiencing, that is to say, the Great Bliss of Mahasukha. Focusing on the the practice of Tummo, the yoga of inner heat, the energy of Anuraga, or sexual passion, as it is experienced by the Yidam, which would normally bind the individual consciousness to rebirth in Samsara, now becomes the very means to the attaining of liberation from Samsara. Relying on the commentaries of the Tantric master Dudjom Rinpoche, in this workshop the previous practices of Anuyoga will be continued and developed further.
Contact: Marti, martihum[at]freemail.hu, tel. 0036-(0) 70-508-0084.
Contact: sambhala.hu[at]gmail.com

January 21-22, 2012
The Practice of Mahakala
as Meditation Deity and as Guardian
Sambhala Center, Budapest, Hungary

[Weekend meditation workshop]

In all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Mahakala, “the great black one,”is regarded as among the most impotant of all the Dharmapalas, or Guardian Spirits of the Buddhist Teachings and its practitioners. This terrifying divine figure, who destroys demons and demolishes and dissolves obstacles, may function as a Yidam, or meditation deity, or as a Sungma, a guardian and protective spirit for the teachings and for the practitioner. As a meditation deity, he is regarded as a wrathful emanation of the great Bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara, who adopts this ferocious guise when peaceful methods fail to subdue and transform the obstacles and threats emanating from negative energies. Functioning as Guardians, there is a group of Seventy-five Nathas, or Gonpos, many of whom belong to the tenth rank among the Dharmapalas. In this weekend seminar, we will focus on and engage in the practices of the Six-armed Mahakala and the Four-armed Mahakala for protection practice and the White Mahakala for wealth practice that comes through the lineage of Shavaripa in India and Khyungpo Naljor in Tibet.
Contact: Marti, martihum[at]freemail.hu, tel. 0036-(0) 70-508-0084.
Contact: sambhala.hu[at]gmail.com

March 1-2-3-4, 2012
Tibetan Dream Yoga Practices
Szczecin, Poland

[Evening talks and weekend meditation workshop]

Dreams are something we experience every night, even if we do not remember them in the morning. Therefore, the first task in dream practice is to recall our dreams the next day. Dreams of clarity are most likely to occur in the morning before we awaken for the day. Sometimes such dreams can foretell future events. In this seminar we will look at the methods used by Tibetan Lamas to induce prophetic dreams by way of the practice of Tara. Moreover, we will investigate the Tibetan methods of Sleep Yoga in order to experience the Clear Light and Dream Yoga in order to experience lucid dreaming. There will be an introductory talk on dreams at the Pomeranian library.
Contact: Wojtek and Bartek, info[at]kuntuzangpo.net

March 9-10-11, 2012
Practices of the Wrathful Lion-headed Dakini Simhamukha
Rangsher Ling Ngakpahaus, Lahr, South Germany

[Weekend meditation workshop]

Generally, in terms of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dakini represents the autonomous feminine principle that is outside the control of patriarchal society and the rational male ego consciousness. For this reason, the Dakini may be represented as alluring and enchanting, but also as wrathful and terrifying. This seminar will look at the meditations, rituals, and magical practices associated with the wrathful lion-headed Dakini Simhamukha, mistress of enchantments, sorceries, and witchcraft, who brings all those beings who are difficult to subdue under her power, and who also vanquishes and subdues all obstacles, negativities, and evil spirits. Simhamukha was the personal practice of Guhyajnana Dakini, the female Guru of Padmasambhava in the Central Asian country of Uddiyana and he introduce4d the practice into Tibet. She remains a very popular practice in the Nyingmapa school of Tibetan Buddhism. For this purpose, we rely on the profound expositions of Jamgön Kongtrul, Jamyang Khyentse, and Dudjom Rinpoche regarding the practices for this Dakini, who is a manifestation of enlightened awareness.
Contact: Bran and Regina, info[at]tibet-lahr.de

March 16-17-18, 2012
Tibetan Dream Yoga Practices
Bielefeld, Germany

[Evening talk and weekend meditation workshop]

Normally, we human beings spend at least a third of our lifetime in sleep and dreaming. Nevertheless, it is possible to engage in a dialogue with our dreams, receiving portents of the future, and even to become awake and self-aware in them awake and self-aware in our dreams and experience what is generally known as “lucid dreaming.” Becoming conscious in our dreams without awakening from sleep, we may come to find ourselves in control of our dream and be able to transform it, even practice meditation while asleep and journey in a dream-body to explore other worlds and dimensions of existence. Moreover, dream yoga represents an excellent training to prepare us for dying and the after-death-experience known as the Bardo, where, as is the case with the dream state, we are confronted with our karmic visions as virtual realities. In this course, we shall explore some of the methods found in the shamanistic and tantric traditions of Ancient Tibet, including Dzogchen, used by the Lamas of Tibet to realize lucid dreams and bring about their transformation, which in turn will affect the waking state life and the consciousness of the individual.
Contact: Miguel, mparacelsus[at]arcor.de

March 23-24-25, 2012
Dzogchen and the Tibetan Book of the Dead
München, South Germany

[Evening lecture and weekend meditation workshop]

Does conscious existence continue after the death of the material body? The ultimate fact of death faces every human being. Whatever is born will eventually die. All things are impermanent. This truth was taught by the Buddha. Nevertheless, according to this teaching, the death of the brain and the material body is not the end of our conscious existence. Death is only a passage and a gateway, one stage in our transformations along the journey. The relentless energy of karma inevitaby propels our consciousness into a new embodiment, a new life, in which we experience the consequences of the actions we have committed in our previous lives. These actions in past lifetimes not only determine our future rebirths, but directly continue to effect our health and emotional states in this present life. However, the Buddha also taught a way to free ourselves from the dead-weight of past karma and transcend the beginningless cycle of death and rebirth we know as Samsara. The Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bar-do thos grol) is one of the most profound books to come out of the Dzogchen tradition of Tibet established in ancient times by Padmasambhava. The Dzogchen teachings of Padmasambhava serve both as the philosophical and the practical basis of the Book of the Dead. In this course, we shall look at the questions of death, dying, reincarnation, and purifying past karma in the light of Dzogchen and Buddhist psychology. Some practices in the Dzogchen tradition that relate to preparation for dying and the Bardo experience after will be taught.
Contact: Reinhold, reinhold_jacob[at]web.de
Last Updated on Tuesday, 24 January 2012 10:09

SEMINARS WITH LAMA VAJRANATHA
SUMMER SCHEDULE 2012
May 12, 2012

Tibetan Buddhist Healing Practices
Brooklyn, New York City, USA
[Saturday afternoon seminar, 1-4 pm.]

In the Buddhist tradition, the spiritual work of the practitioner has always been very much concerned with the process of healing the mind and the body, both of oneself and of others. Every Buddhist monk is expected to have some knowledge of medicine and healing practices related to the three dimensions of human existence, namely, body, energy, and mind. Even the Buddha himself was called “the Great Physician” and his core teaching of the Four Holy Truths was cast into the form of the traditional Vedic medical diagnosis and prognosis for an illness. Furthermore, the Buddha expounded an Eightfold Path that represents the process of a cure to the human predicament, a holistic approach to the process of healing the fragmented and alienated psyche, so that the human individual becomes whole again and at peace with oneself and the world. This two day course will focus on certain methods of psychic healing employed in the Buddhist tradition of Tibet, which include the use of guided imagery to access and direct the natural healing energies inherent in every human being. These methods are known as Tsewang or “life-force empowerment” and Tsedrub or “long life meditation,” and they represent the principal form of psychic healing employed by the Tibetan Lamas.

Contact: James Bae, jameshbae[at]yahoo.com info: http://www.baeacupuncture.com/Blank-1.html

June 15-16-17, 2012

Dzogchen Meditation Practices
Szczecin, Poland [Weekend practice session]

Dzogchen, “the Great Perfection”, which teaches the Path of Self-Liberation, is traditionally regarded in Tibet as the highest and most profound teaching of the Buddha. In terms of meditation practice, Dzogchen distinguishes between “the mind”, or the normal thought process that is cyclical and samsaric in nature, and “the Nature of Mind”, which is the primordial state of enlightenment that lies beyond all time, conditioning, and causality. By way of direct introduction and meditation practice, this primordial, yet everpresent, state of Buddhahood, which resides at the very core of every individual living being, is revealed like the brilliant face of the sun in the sky when the dark clouds of ignorance and delusion are dissipated. Continuing from previous retreats, we will investigate and practice various Rushan and Semdzin exercises that assist the practitioner to relax and to discover the Nature of Mind.

Contact: Wojtek and Bartek, info[at]kuntuzangpo.net

June 23-24, 2012

Magical Practices with Vajrakilaya
Sambhala Centrum, Budapest, Hungary

The ultimate goal of Buddhist spiritual practice is liberation from suffering in Samsara and the attaining of Buddha enlightenment. But until that ultimate goal is attained after the course of many lifetimes, the individual practitioner must deal with the practical problems of this present life on earth. Therefore, in terms of the Buddhist tradition, there are many secondary practices in relation to the meditation Deity Vajrakilaya, especially those from the Dudjom Tersar lineage of the Nyingmapa school of Tibet, which deal with such problems as healing, life extension, prosperity, fending off attacks of negative energy from enemies and spirits, and so on. This seminar will examine some of these practices.

Contact: Sambhala Center, info[at]kuntuzangpo.net

July 6-7-8, 2012

Wrathful Practices of the Lion-Headed Dakini Simhamukha
Rangsher Ling Ngakpahaus, Lahr, South Germany
[Weekend meditation workshop]

Generally, in terms of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dakini represents the autonomous feminine principle that is outside the control of patriarchal society and the rational male ego consciousness. For this reason, the Dakini may be represented as alluring and enchanting, but also as wrathful and terrifying. This seminar will look at the meditations, rituals, and magical practices associated with the wrathful lion-headed Dakini Simhamukha, mistress of enchantments, sorceries, and witchcraft, who brings all those beings who are difficult to subdue under her power, and who also vanquishes and subdues all obstacles, negativities, and evil spirits. Simhamukha was the personal practice of Guhyajnana Dakini, the female Guru of Padmasambhava in the Central Asian country of Uddiyana and he introduced her practice into Tibet. She remains a very popular practice in the Nyingmapa school of Tibetan Buddhism. For this purpose, we rely on the profound expositions of Jamgön Kongtrul, Jamyang Khyentse, and Dudjom Rinpoche regarding the practices for this Dakini, who is a manifestation of enlightened awareness. This seminar represents a continuation of the previous seminar. Here the focus will be on the collection of magical practices (las tshogs) associated with the wrathful lion-headed Dakini Simhamukha, and especially on the Lower Rites (smad-las) for subduing and transforming evil spirits that cause harm, obstacles, and illnesses for individuals.

Contact: Bran and Regina, info[at]tibet-lahr.de

Teaching Retreats with Lopon Tenzin Namdak Summer-Fall 2012:
Lama Vajranatha will be present at these two retreats in Europe.

July 23-August 13, 2012

The European Retreat with Lopon Tenzin Namdak in Normandy, France
Shenten Dargye Ling, near Saumur, Loire, France
Advanced Dzogchen Teachings from the Zhang-zhung Nyän-gyüd with Lopon Tenzin Namdak. Additional teachings with Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung.
Info : yungdrung-bon.net
Contact: shenten[at]wanadoo.fr
Advance notice of attendence suggested

September 27-30, 2012

The Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen with Lopon Tenzin Namdak
Buddhasweg Seminar Center, South of Frankfurt, Germany
Contact: Dorothea Mihm, mihm[at]praxis-adarsha.de