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Dzogchen Seminars and Retreats 2009
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for Dzogchen in Mongolia
ISRAEL
March 18th-26th
Tel Aviv: Evening Lecture
The Dakini
Conundrum
The symbolism of the Dakini (the female buddha)
and her relationship with the world elaborates our experience of mind in
a poetic and evocative manner that puts us at once firmly on the ground
and flying in the sky.
Sangha House, Wed. 18/3 19:30-21:30
Galilee:
Seminar and Retreat
Perfection of Passion
Dzogchen is the ultimate secret of
Mind and of the Tibetan Lamas. Zen-like in its
uncompromising insistence upon the middle way and upon our
Buddha-potential, it nevertheless allows us to incorporate our humanity,
in all its multifarious facets, into a spiritual praxis. The aim of this
seminar is to focus upon the nitty-gritty of Dzogchen praxis, upon the
aspects of the vision that we are encountering in every minute of the
day that can bring us immediately to the meditation, that act as the
constant and unfailing initiatrix into the nature of mind. The
perfection of passion refers to the emotional side of life that is
always with us, too frequently abused as obstruction to out
enlightenment, or demonised conventionally by dualistic religion. This
seminar and retreat seeks to assimilate all our experience to The Great
Perfection -- a vision, a meditation and a lifestyle
that can remove obstructions to spacious personal freedom: to resolve
confused emotion, to embrace sexuality, to develop compassionate
Buddha-mind, to cultivate an acceptance of death, and to create a
personal mandala of integration and clear purpose
The Retreat
will allow us time in peaceful seclusion to practise the vision and
meditation of Dzogchen which always requires attention. We will also
look at the Semdzins of Longchenpa which provide support to that
endeavour.
A Dzogchen
event always (always!?) evokes the awareness, serenity, humour,
compassion that is the nature of being. This is
because -- rather than in spite of -- the lack of any vow, samaya,
discipline, vinaya, rules of
behaviour.
Place:
Tuval
Time: Seminar: Friday
March 20th Saturday March 21st
Retreat: Sunday March 22nd Thursday March 26th
Contact
Gilia Bar Levi giliabar@yahoo.com
Mobile: 972-50-6711930
website: tovana.co.il (in Hebrew)
registration: mirigreenstein@gmail.com
AUSTRIA:
Gutenstein
April 3rd -
5th
Radical Dzogchen Seminar
again in Gutenstein
Primordial Yoga:
The Deep Heart's Core
All the vast literature of Dzogchen,
all its instruction in view and meditation can be essentialised in the
introduction to the nature of mind and that pointing finger puts us in
the place out of which the Great Perfection blooms. We will use Mipham's
Voice of Vajra Awareness and Vairocana's slokas.
Place:
Maitreya Institut Gutenstein
Time: Friday April 3rd - Sunday April 5th
Contact:
Sylvester and Li Lohninger
sequoyah@nextra.at
Fon:
 +43-2634-7417
Web:
www.maitreya.at
Blättertal 9,
A-2770 Gutenstein
HUNGARY:
BUDAPEST
Seminar April 10th
-12th
Dzogchen Download
This seminar provides an introduction to the heart of Dzogchen.
The
Dzogchen view and meditation are presented here.
Introduction to the
Nature of Mind
April Fri 10th 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Vajrasattva's Vast Space
April Sat 11th 10:00am - 12:00pm and 3:00pm -
5:00pm
Dakini Conundrum
April Sun 12th 10:00am - 1:00
and 3:00pm - 6:00pm
Place: Sambhala Tibet Center, Budapest
1068 Budapest, Szófia u.7. (00361)266 8084, 06 70 944 0260
Rushen Retreat April
13th-20th
All who have an introduction to the nature
of mind are welcome
Topic: The Four Bardos
At best the bardo teaching prepares us for life
At worst Dzogchen is a passport through the bardos
Veranka
Island, near Baja,
In the Danube 130km south
of Budapest.
Contact:
Tibor Hendry
email: sambhala@elender.hu
website: www.tibet.hu
Tibetet Segítő Társaság Sambhala Tibet Központ
Tibet Support Association Sambhala Tibet Center
GERMANY: BERLIN
Urban Yogi Update and Download
Dzogchen Seminar and Retreat
Seminar:
Friday 24 April - Sunday 26.April
Retreat: Monday 27th April
-
Wednesday 29.April
German Dzogchen
We need to make our twenty-four hour experience identical to the
nature of mind. Integrating samasara with contemplation -- tweaking
life out of pain -- is the praxis between sitting sessions
(the seminar Fri-Sun) ) where we may also use tantric methods; and
resting in the nature of mind is the praxis of sitting sessions (the
retreat Mon -Wed)
Place:
Theksum Tashi Chöling
Berlin
c/o Bodhicharya e.V.
Kinzigstraße 25-29
10247 Berlin - Friedrichshain
(Near U5-Samariterstrasse, TRAM 23 Wismar Platz)
Contact:
Anne Gabler: yontan@gmx.net
Anna Aly: +491637423869
Olaf : Olaf@khordong.de
www.khordong.net
For Accommodation
contact Anne Gäbler
ENGLAND:
LEWES
Seminar: May 16th - 17th
The
Bones of Dzogchen
Dzogchen stripped down to its original unelaborated quintessence,
the vision as the twenty-four hour meditation, non-cultural Buddhism,
introduction to the nature of mind.
[Based on Patrul and Mipham's texts].
Contact;
Huw on
01323 871836 or 07771 646 575
or email at
dharmawheel@hotmail.com
MEXICO
Espacio Dzogchen México
June
3rd-July 6th
Conferencia
Place:
Yoga
Espacio
Time:
June Wednesday 3rd 7:30pm
Dzogchen:
Mexican
Dzogchen
Let's get rid of the Asian
cultural intrusion
Place:
Allende 110 Col. Del Carmen, Coyoacán, D. F.
Tel.- 56 58 12 50 / 56 58 07 43
Conferencia
Espacio Interbudista
Place:
(Loseling) Centro Area
Time: Friday June 5th 7:30 pm
Dzogchen:
NON-ACTION
We don't like pressure. Exertion is non-productive. Non-action works
for us!
Conferencia
Place: Cuernavaca
to be announced
Time: Monday June 7th 7:30pm
Dzogchen for Failures
If we search for a key we confirm the prison.
Yet here is the chance for ultimate success,
where the prison becomes a pureland.
Chihuahua
Introduction to Dzogchen: Conference and Retreat
Conferencia:
Time: Tuesday 9th June 7:30
Place: Torreňn
city
Samsara
and/or Nirvana
The non-dual Buddhist option that subsumes all our lives
Introductory Retreat
Time: Thursday June 11th - 14th
Place: Jimenez
Introduction to the nature of mind
The Inner rushen exercises are enough to give us the entire Dzogchen
mandala. Dzogchen praxis is for everyone at all times.
Tepoztlan,
Time: Thursday 18th - Sunday 21st
Place: Werica
Radical Dzogchen: Introductory
Retreat:
The Pointing Out Instruction
This introduction based upon the Vajra Voice of Mipham Rinpoche and
The Three Incisive Precepts of Patrul take us immediately to the
centre of the Mandala and allows us to describe the topography and
psychology of experience from the buddha's perspective.
Acapulco
Time: June Friday 26th-Sunday 28th
Place: Bambuddha
Seminar
The Dakini Conundrum
It is not only the Dakini but the Daka also who we can never pin down as
a lover or mentor. We are looking for the mysterious home of the
Dakini.
Contact
Vistara
Carretera Barra Vieja no. 37
Tel.-
01( 744 )444 64 06 & 07
Nextel 01 (744) 1000 457 ID 198858 *1
papalotzin@aol.com
www.bambuddhacapulco.com
Real de Catorce.
S.L.P
Time: July Friday 3rd- Sunday 5th
Seminar
The Four Bardos
At best, the teaching upon the gap between
death and rebirth enlightens our lives;
At worst, Dzogchen is a passport to cross all borders.
All
enquiries to: Rosa Veronica Gomez:
Espacio Dzogchen México: www.espaciodzogchen.org
Informes e inscripciones:
email: espaciodzogchenmexico@yahoo.com
USA: Colorado
Boulder
Shambhala
Center
Thursday,
July 16, 7:00 pm
The Bones of Dzogchen
Radical Dzogchen is the root
dharma of 8th century Tibet before it was hidden by the monastic veneer.
Strip
away the cultural flesh and its the bones of Dzogchen that momentarily
renew the world.
Crestone
Weekend Seminar: July Saturday18th - Sunday 19th
Venue
to be announced
Vairotsana's
Vast Space of Vajrasattva
This early radical Dzogchen text deals with the
principal issues
of the Dzogchen view.
Semdzins will augment the Dzogchen meditation
Contact Chris Chandler on 719-256-4892
or christinechandler102@gmail.com
USA: New Mexico: Santa Fe
Dzogchen in Brief
July Friday 24th
Pointing Out at the Dudjom Stupa Sanctuary at Upaya Center
7:00 - 9:00pm
July 25th-26th
The Great Garuda in Flight
Radical Dzogchen update and
download
The Garuda hatches fully fledged and immediately
spreads its wings and soars endlessly on the natural wind currents with
complete mastery of the elements. The Great Garuda in Flight is one of
the first Dzogchen tantras to be translated into Tibetan and remains a
vital transmission in the radical Dzogchen tradition and takes us
from the centre of the Dzogchen mandala to the nitty-gritty of attention
to the minutiae of everyday experience.
16 Espira Court, Eldorado
Contact: Jeremiah Weser
jeremiahweser@yahoo.com
tel: +505-466-8006
MONGOLIAN
PILGRIMAGE
AND RETREAT
Lapis
Sky Camp, Bunkhan
Valley, Arkhangai,
Mongolia
August
5th – August 22nd 2009
The dream of a Dzogchen retreat
under the vast Mongolian skies is indeed to be realised. The essence of
the retreat will be the view and meditation enshrined in Longchenpa’s Treasury
of Natural Perfection and Dzogchen sky-gazing. The natural
environment though will be the raw elemental forces of the Mongolian
steppes, the human environment will be the shamanic and buddhist
horsemen of the steppes, and the spiritual environment will be the vast
spaces of mind.
The entire interlude in
Mongolia
should be envisioned as a Dzogchen retreat wherein all the movements of
body, speech and mind, are experienced as non-action. But we shall have
pilgrimage in Ulaan Baatar to gompas and shamans; in Karakhorim to
Ghengis Khan’s monastery (Edene Zhu); and by horse to the geomantic
features in the shamanic environment of the Bunkhan
Valley
where we will sit (the shaman mountain, springs and nomad villages).
Our hosts in
Mongolia
are Carroll Dunham and
Tom
Kelly
old friends and neighbours from Kathmandu who have spent summers in a
gher camp in central
Mongolia
for the past ten years. See below for their bio.
We have kept the basic land cost
down to $3000 (or the euro equivalent -- currently €2400) by making
the three day horse trek to the sacred shaman mountain at the end of the
retreat a voluntary extra. This Mongolian pilgrimage
differs from the great and magnificent Kailash pilgrimage of 2007 in
that we will not cut corners with costs and creature comforts and run
the best cheapest tour on the web in 2009, rather we
will pay for the best accommodation and transport possible at the heart
of one of the last great wildernesses on the planet according to Carroll
and
Tom
’s high professional standard. Mongolian gher camp with yurt
accommodation is the style.
Flights to Ulaan Baatar
From US or
Mexico
via
L.A.
or S.F. on Korean or Air
China
$850 on last count.
From
Europe
: Nothing is certain, perhaps €1000, subject to change. If anyone can
find a cheap and good direct flight to Ulaan Baator please let me know.
The Trans-Siberian Express is the other option.
I advise an early arrival by a
couple of days in Ulaan Baatar for those who suffer from excessive
jetlag.
Please contact me for any personal
communication at keith.dowman@gmail.com
Contact
Contact Carroll Dunham for
registration and visa information, equipment list, weather forecast etc
at carroll@wildearthnepal.com
See also www.wildearthjourneys.com
(full final upload delayed for a couple of days)
Payment will be made directly to
Carroll.
The primacy of Dzogchen vision and
meditation can never be in doubt.
CARROLL
DUNHAM AND TOM KELLY
Our hosts will be the nomads of the
Bunkhan
Valley
and the Kelly Family. Tom Kelly is an award-winning
photographer (www.thomaslkelly.com),
and his wife Carroll Dunham
is an anthropologist and herbalist. They have called the
Himalayas
-- mostly in Kathmandu -- home for over twenty years. This is
their 9th summer season in the beloved
Bunkhan
Valley
with Lapis Sky Camp.
Their books include:
Tibet
: Reflections from the
Wheel
of Life, The Hidden Himalayas, and Sacred Landscape and Pilgrimage in
Tibet
(Abbeville Press.) They have produced award-winning films on the
Himalayas
for BBC, PBS, ITV, Channel 4, National Geographic and CBC. They love
nothing more than drinking deep with kindred spirits the spacious inner winds of meditation, combined with riding fast horses in vast
spaces of wilderness with the wind on their cheeks.
There will be time for Yoga practice with Carroll
and magnificent Mongolian horses are available for long rides through
this varied terrain of wilderness between practice sessions.
Carroll's
Invitation to the Bunkhan Valley
(go www.wildearthjourneys.com
for full text and photos)
Join us on this once in a lifetime
journey deep into the wild sacred terrain of the earth and mind, to
one of the last spacious wildernesses left on the planet. Horses
outnumber people 8 to one in a country the size of western Europe with
only 2. 5 million people, the largest nomadic civilization left on the
earth. Witness the incredible resiliency of the human spirit, with the
revitilization of both Buddhism and Shamanism. 70 years of
communist rule attempting to eradicate Buddhism from the steppes proved
debilitating but not successful. Now urban Mongols struggle with the
seductive influx of consumer goods antithetical to a nomadic lifestyle
in a capital teeming with growth.
For thousands of years, Mongolian
shamans have traditionally retreated in the summer months to the
mountains with offerings, to revitalize and become recharged with spirit
offered from the terrain and sky. Nomads have worshipped the sky for at
least 6000 years, relying on their animal herds for survival. Like the
shamans before us, we will journey deep into the heartland of this
country, to taste the raw elements which have supported a profound
spiritual view, deeply linked to the environment. We will live as nomads
in cozy rustic ghers with nomad neighbors and the deep crystaline Tamir
river roaring beside us, with a herd of horses to ride through this
varying terrain where forest meets steppe in the Khangai mountains, rich
with 3000 year old archeological burial sites. We will discover a
deep sense of renewal of spirit and view in the marrow of our bones,
being and vision, meeting the living Mongolian tradition along the
way.
This pilgrimage begins in Ulaan Baatar,
the capital of Mongolia. We will visit key monasteries and join the
khandromas of the Narkhajid temple, witnessing the vitality of post
Soviet Buddhist revitilization traditions. A shamanic ceremony gives
insight into this rich legacy so deeply a part of Mongolian spiritual
worldview. We will travel the vast expanse and space of the steppes
visiting Erdene Zhu, the largest monastery in Mongolia where Ghengis
Khan's descendants ruled the world before continuing our pilgrimage to
the Bunkhan valley in Arkhangai, the Buddhist heartland of Mongolia and
home to Scythian civilizations 3000 years ago. Bunkhan is a charnel
ground of ancient burial remains, kings and queens lay below the soil
with their beloved gold adorned steeds marked with stones, and the larch
studded sacred Bayondur mountain rests above the camp, with the vital
Tamir river curling and roaring beside the yurts. Yoga practice is
available and magnificent Mongolian horses- "the dragon herd"
are available for long rides through this varied terrain of wilderness
between practice sessions along with art, archery and wrestling.
For more information contact:
carroll@wildearthnepal.com
keithdowman@gmail.com
DAILY ITINERARY:
Day 1 (Aug 4th)
Depart for Ulaan Baatar. Can come overland through Moscow on
Trans-Siberian express, but need to book ahead. From US most commonly
fly through Korea is recommended, or through Beijing.
Day2 (Aug 5)
Arrive in Ulaan Baatar. Met at airport and driven one hour beyond
the city into the wilderness of Terelej to a ger camp. TERELEJ
Day 3 (Aug 6)
Breakfast Relax if jetlagged or we travel to visit Ganden
monastery, the seat of Buddhism in Mongolia. Although Buddhist
monastereis were either destroyed or converted into museums during hte
Stalinist purges of the 1930s, Ganden Monastery continued to operate as
a showpiece for government officials and today is a thriving monastic
center, We travel on to visit the Khandomas of Narkhajid monastery,
married Chod practitioners. Chod is a traditional wilderness practice
for cutting through fear. After lunch, we travel to a sacred spot near
the Tuul River and Bogd Khan mountain for a shamanic ceremony, providing
insight into the revilitization of urban shamanism. Back to camp for
dinner. TERELEJ
Day 4 (Aug 7)
Depart in the morning for Kharakorim. Like ships in the esert, we will
sail through the vast sea of the steppes to the ancient capitol of
Kharakorim, After breakfast we travel by comfortable AC bus through the
sweeping Mongolian grasslands as if a boat on the rolling sea of the
steppes, arriving by evening in Kharakhirin, where we will stay at a
traditional ger camp. KHARAKORIM
Day 5 (Aug 8)
We start our day with a visit to Erdene Zhu monastery. The great Ghengis
Khan and his son created the beautiful and legendary city of Kharakhorim
in the 13th century to serve as the heart of his monolithic Mongol
empire. There are only a few traces left of this once great city,
but Mongolia's largest monastery, neighboring Erdene Zhu, was reputedly
constructed from the ruins of Kharakorim in the 16th century. Erdene
Zhu has been a place of Buddhist activity for more than 500 years. We
will explore the monastery grounds and meet with the head lama. We
continue driving west, passing the capitol of Arkhangai, Tsetserleg,
"the Garden City", before reaching Bunkhan valley. Walking
down Princess Pass where once a Princess in a palanquin is said to have
stopped to enjoy the view, we walk near sunset down to our gers,
welcomed by our local nomad staff. Settling into our ghers before
supper. LAPIS SKY CAMP
Day 6-12 (Aug 9-15)
Having drunk the deep spaces of the steppes on our journey down, we now
settle into Longchenpa's "Old Man Basking in the Sun"
teachings and wilderness retreat with Keith Dowman, exploring the
precepts of nonaction and wild mind. Wood stoves crackle in our gers,
and late at night lone lover nomads can be heard singing on horseback,
returnining from a summer visit to a lover up valley. Horses and herds
of yak wander by. Morning practice in the Cottonwood forest,
optional yoga. Our neighbor Gamboldt's shaggy white yak will pull the
cart he usually carries the ger on, carrying supplies for a traditional
Mongol Barbeque picnic. One afternoon Tsering Kunchok, a 78 year old
Mongol medicinal healer comes to talk and gather and identify medicinal
plants. Checking pulses, he examines how the elements flow in each
being. Our Mongol grandfather nomad Namkha shares Mongol
horse riding wisdom, and horse riding practice occurs in the vast valley
of Teel, until one feels the fire in the belly to thunderhoof with ease,
fearlessly, like a bird. We can swim in the bracing river or enjoy
forest solitude with a mountain peak in every direction. Nomads beckon
for those who wish interaction to learn the 6000 year old nomadic horse
arts of steppe survival in this land made so sweet for such a brief time
before the northern winds sweep through with bitter cold. Day 12 Keith
Dowman gives open teachings translated to nomads and monks who come from
Tsetserleg monastery. LAPIS SKY CAMP
Day 13 (Aug 16)
We host a mini Nadam, horse racing, wrestling and rodeo events topped
with an evening concert by the river with bonfire, traditional Mongol
throat singing and horse fiddle. LAPIS SKY CAMP
Day 14 (Aug 17)
"I ride a stallion,
the foal of a barren mare.
Unborn, all-pervading
Absolute space.
I sit in a saddle without
Meditation, without tampering
Mind occurs naturally.
–Shabkar
(Chassez le natural au revient gallop)
Riding a horse has always been used as a metaphor in Vajrayana Buddhism
for how to work skillfully with the mind. We offer an optional horse
pilgrimage to the base of sacred Bayondur Mountain offering a different
view moving through landscape. Those who prefer can stay at Lapis Sky
Camp for further personal retreat, practice, painting, mind and body at
ease.
Murindo! echoing Ghengis Khan's battle
cry for "saddle up"! Enthused by local festivities, to
increase our windhorse, called hiimor in Mongolian, lungta in Tibetan,
we spend a leisurely day in the saddle, riding through this
extraordinary landscape, stopping and visiting nomads along the
way. According to Mongol belief a strong windhorse
allows one to see with clarity and act decisively--critical skills in a
warrior culture as well as in modern life. We set up a tented camp at
the base of a mountain venerated by shamans since the time of Ghengis
Khan, if not before. BAYONDUR MOUNTAIN BASE CAMP (tents)/ LAPIS
SKY CAMP
Day 15 (Aug 18)
The second day of our windhorse pilgrimage to Bayondur for recharge, men
traditionally ride up to circle the ovoo (stone cairn) making white
(dairy product) offerings to the sky and Mountain spirits, asking for
blessings for the horse, the herd, the community, the family, and
increase of one's own windhorse vitality. Because women are symbolically
conceived as nature- the mountain itself, they rest at ease, at the base
of the mountain. BAYONDUR MOUNTAIN BASE CAMP (tents) LAPIS SKY CAMP
Day 16 (Aug 19)
Horseback return to Lapis Sky Camp, Reunion, Keith gives an evening talk
on Longchenpa translated into Mongolian for nomad friends. Farewell
dinner, traditional singing. LAPIS SKY CAMP
Day 17 (Aug 20)
Drive from camp to Kharakorim.
Day 18 (Aug 21)
Catch early morning flight from Kharakorim to Ulaan Baatar. Free
afternoon explore city, visit Mongolian artist ateliers. Lunch and
dinner on your own. Depart for home on evening flights.
TRIP COST:
US $3000 deposit $500
optional 3 day horse pilgrimage $500
PRICE INCLUDES:
Dzogchen retreat teacher Keith Dowman; translator, yoga and
resource guide Carroll Dunham; transport in Mongolia, all meals except
on 21st, lodging in gers, double occupancy ( single occupancy $500 extra
supplement) ger retreat living in Bunkhan, horses, horsemen, saddles,
airport transfers, museum entrance fees, The price does not include
airport tax, offerings to lamas, alcohol drinks or tips to the horseman
and staff, flights to UB.
Cancellation Policy: Final payment is
due May 1st. In the event of cancellation within 31-70 days prior to
departure date, there will be a refund of 50% of the land portion of the
trip fee, In the event of cancellation within 40 days prior to the
departure date, there will be a refund of 35% of the land portion of the
trip fee.
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