December 14-15, 2024
Reincarnation and Rebirth
The Bardo and Samsara according to Dzogchen
Weekend Seminar via Zoom, Saturday and Sunday with breaks, times 16-20 CET
Following death, where there is the disintegrating of the elements of the body and then even the mind, what is it that experiences the Bardo, the interval between death and rebirth into a new embodiment? We shall examine this process according to the various Tibetan Books of the Dead according to the standpoints of Buddhism, Bon, and Shamanism. Our seminar will look into what methods are available in our present life to prepare for our inevitable fate in terms of karma and rebirth.
November 16-17, 2024
Soul Retrieval
Recalling Lost Fragments of the Soul and Averting Soul Loss
Weekend Seminar via Zoom, Saturday and Sunday with breaks, times 16-20 CET
On occasion the soul may wander about detached from the physical body and thereby become vulnerable to attack by hostile spirits and even become lost in the Otherworld of the Spirits. The principle symptom of such soul loss is chronic depression and the loss of emotional vitality and interest in life. In the Tibetan tradition, there exist various methods for retrieving lost fragments of the soul from the Otherworld and realizing its reintegration and wholeness. Our seminar will consider some of these methods.
October19-20, 2024
The Spirits and the Soul
Protecting Oneself from Provocations of Negative Energy
Weekend Seminar via Zoom, Saturday and Sunday with breaks, times 16-20 CET
For the Tibetans, the wilds of nature are filled with the energies of the nature spirits, who are under the rule and control of the mighty Yul-lha, or mountain gods, of their land. These nature spirits can impinge upon and influence our own personal energy fields and affect the practical concerns of one’s life. Buddhism, Bon, and Shamanism communicate and deal directly with these spirits of wild nature in order to realize a harmonious balance between our worlds. In our seminar we will look into some of the ritual and meditation practices used to accomplish this.
September 21-22, 2024
Mind and the Soul in Buddhism, Bon, and Tibetan Shamanism
Weekend Seminar via Zoom, Saturday and Sunday with breaks, times 16-20 CET
In Western books we sometimes read that Buddhism denies the existence of an immortal soul in human beings. If so, what is it that reincarnates? Buddhist psychology is much more complex and subtle than this and speaks of a stream of consciousness that transmigrates and passes from one lifetime to another. Moreover, both Bon and Tibetan Shamanism speaks of the La or soul that is the energetic vehicle for our emotional life. This seminar will consider the Tibetan concept of the soul and the various practices and meditations employed to protect and strengthen it.
July 13-14, 2024
The Queen of Great Bliss and the Four Faces of the Dakini
Weekend Seminar via Zoom
(Saturday 15-19 and Sunday 14-18, with breaks).
The Wisdom Dakini embodies the wisdom aspect of Buddha enlightenment in its feminine form. Therefore, the Dakini is depicted as nude because wisdom transcends all discursive thought and as dancing because she is active in both Samsara and Nirvana. The Dudjom Tersar tradition of Dudjom Lingpa and Dudjom Rinpoche focuses on the four faces or aspects of the Wisdom Dakini,known as the Yum-ka, which were the principal Dakini Yoga practices of Guru Padmsambhava’s consort and tantric partner, the Tibetan princess Yeshe Tsogyal—her peaceful maiden-like Yogini form as Dechen Gyalmo, “the Queen of Great Bliss,” her sexy and seductive form as Kurukulla, the goddess of enchantment and witchcraft, her fierce lion-headed form as Simhamukha who repels psychic and magical attacks, and her terrifying form as the Wrathful Dark Goddess Kali, Queen of the Cemetery and the Cremation Grounds, who by way of the practice of Chöd demolishes the fear of death for the practitioner. This seminar will examine the practices of these four aspects of the Wisdom Dakini.
June 22-23, 2024
The Sword of Wisdom
The Sadhana Practices of Manjushri and Yamantaka
Weekend Seminar via Zoom
(Saturday 15-19 and Sunday 14-18, with breaks).
Practicing meditation on the Great Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Manjushri, called the eldest son of the Buddha, is a method that may be pursued in order to increase one’s powers of memory and eloquence of expression, to clarify one’s depth of understanding and capacity in debating, and to expand the power of one’s intellect and access discriminating wisdom. For this reason, attired and adorned as a Bodhisattva, he wields the flaming sword of discriminating wisdom, which slices through ignorance and delusion in one hand, and holds, supported upon a lotus blossom, the text of the Buddha’s teaching on the Perfection of Wisdom in the other. But this peaceful Bodhisattva also has his wrathful aspect, Yamantaka, “he who puts an end to death,” manifesting in order to liberate humanity from the malign influence of death-dealing Shinje spirits, or Yamas. This seminar will engage both the peaceful and wrathful aspects of Manjushri in the Nyingmapa tradition of Tibet.
May 18-19, 2024
The Practice of Dorje Drolo
The Wrathful Aspect of the Guru and His Crazy Wisdom
Weekend Seminar via Zoom
(Saturday 15-19 and Sunday 14-18, with breaks).
Continuation of the above seminar on the sadhana practice of the Wrathful Vajra Guru who is the embodiment of “Crazy Wisdom.” Here we examine the main sadhana practice and some of the magical practices for subduing and transforming provocations of negative energy.
April 20-21, 2024
The Practice of Dorje Drolo—The Wrathful Aspect of the Guru and His Crazy Wisdom
Weekend Seminar via Zoom
(Saturday 15-19 and Sunday 15-19, with breaks).
Guru Padmasambhava not only manifested himself in numerous peaceful aspects in order to teach the Dharma and ensure healing and prosperity, but also in wrathful forms in order to subdue, vanquish, and transform negative energies and evil spirits. In particular, he manifested himself on a number of occasions as Dorje Drolo, whose bizarre and unconventional behavior exemplified “Crazy Wisdom” (ye-shes “chol-ba) in order to confound and confuse the Gyalpo spirits which so much afflict humanity and its sanity in our world today. This seminar will look into the practice of the Wrathful Guru according to the Dudjom Tersar tradition of Dudjom Rinpoche.
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.
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 conflict