A Weekend of Special Events: May 18/19 |
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Special Tsog Accumulations on Saturday, May 18th, Guru Rinpoche Day, in memory of the sacred sea burial of Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoche
Ven Gyatrul Rinpoche's sacred kudung was offered into the sea off the coast of Santa Cruz, California, exactly one year ago on this day. At the recommendation of our Vajra Master, Ven. Lingtrul Rinpoche, we will be offering a vast and plentiful tsog and many, many tsog accumulation verses on this day.
If you would like to make an offering to support this special occasion, you may do so by clicking the button below: |
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| Read more about the sea burial: |
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| NEYDREN CEREMONY: Sunday, May 19th in the afternoon session
The Neydren Ritual for Guiding the Consciousnesses of the Deceased will take place during the Vajrasattva retreat in the afternoon session on Sunday, May 19th.
Please email names or photos by 7pm Pacific Saturday, May 18th to [email protected] or hand-deliver names, photos, ashes, or hair to one of the chopens at Tashi Choling during lunch on Sunday, May 19th |
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All are Welcome to Attend!! |
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Before you register, please first take a moment to scroll down this page and read information we've offered to help you participate in and get the most out of this retreat. |
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Daily Retreat Schedule (Pacific time zone) 9:30-Noon: Morning practice session (including short break) Noon-2:30: Lunch break 2:30-3:00: Teaching 3:00-4:10: Afternoon practice session (followed by short break) 4:30-5:45: Tsog and Conclusion |
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Your Registration Helps Tashi Choling! Thanks to the generosity of sponsors, Tashi Choling is able to reduce retreat fees for attendees. When you register for one of our retreats, you are helping Tashi Choling pay for essential expenses and keep the center open so we can continue to offer the dharma to all who connect with our activities. Thank you for supporting in this way! No one will be turned away for lack of funds. |
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Healthy Lunch and Dinner Options Available this Year: Please Sign Up when You Register When you register, please choose your meal options at the same time, then email us at [email protected] to let us know if you eat meat or are vegetarian. We are pleased to be able to offer simple, healthy vegetarian or meat lunches and vegetarian dinners, both for people attending the whole retreat and for those attending only a day or two. We always strive to keep meal fees as low as possible to cover food and kitchen expenses and still provide healthy, nutritious, and delicious meals. |
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Accommodations Note: All onsite accommodations at Tashi Choling are filled. There are many hotels in nearby Ashland, about 35 minutes from Tashi Choling. |
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Please scroll down for the daily prayer list, Neydren handouts, your personal copy of the Daily Order of Practice and Additional Prayers Packet, teachings, and more! |
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Daily Prayer List Download includes the light and tea dedications for Saturday, May 18th
Click the image to view and download the document |
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Ways to Connect and Support
Whether or not you are able to attend in-person, you can make a connection with the other practitioners and receive the blessings from the retreat. The links below offer several ways to support this retreat: |
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Thank you for your support! |
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Venerable Lingtrul Rinpoche will join us this year! |
| We are honored to have our precious teacher, Venerable Lingtrul Rinpoche, with us this year and are hoping he will offer teachings on topics related to the practice.
Read more about Lingtrul Rinpoche on his bio page HERE. |
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Lama Chonam and Sangye Khandro will also attend. |
We are pleased that our resident lamas, Lama Chonam and Sangye Khandro, will be in attendance during this retreat and will teach on some days. |
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If you would like to learn more about the Dorsem Lama Chopa Vajrasattva practice we will be doing at this retreat.... |
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| In these study groups, Keith and Ila provided an informal introduction to this practice, including information about the history of the practice, its structure, key points, and mudras.
The Mudra Book with still shots of all the mudras used in the Dorsem Lama Chopa Vajrasattva practice is also available at these links: Printed Text Digital Text |
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Also related to the practice of Vajrasattva, here is Ila speaking at a recent Sunday class on the "Four Remedial Powers" of confession and purification that we can all remember and bring to mind as we engage in the retreat: Click the image to listen. |
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MORE ABOUT THIS VAJRASATTVA RETREAT: |
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"This is your special practice. You and your students must uphold it!" With these words, His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche placed the volume of his "Vajrasattva as the Lama" (Dorsem Lama Chopa) scripture on Gyatrul Rinpoche's head and blessed him. Since Gyatrul Rinpoche frequently referred to His Holiness as inseparable from Guru Rinpoche himself, with unobstructed omniscience and surpassing love for all beings, we can understand that this loving command was out of His Holiness's profound compassion and kindness for we beings in these particularly challenging times. With wisdom insight, His Holiness could see what would be the most powerful and helpful methods to assist us with all that we face, now and for years to come.
Following this advice, out of reverence for his guru and with unwavering love for his students, Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoche began the tradition of this annual 10-day Vajrasattva retreat at Tashi Choling. In this way, His Holiness' wisdom intent could be fulfilled and students could constantly have the blessings and power of this amazing practice available to benefit themselves and all others. |
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Since 1997, every year students have gathered to connect with this practice which is the very manifestation of His Holiness' loving wisdom intent. Through it, we can nurture our guru yoga practice, our connection with the deity Vajrasattva, and our awareness of the blessings of the lineage masters and all those we look to as our gurus. By practicing together, we can deepen our closeness with each other as sangha. We can clear personal obstacles in our own lives and bring benefit on many levels to the beings in our sphere.
Now, thanks to our ability to offer retreats both in-person and online, all of our dharma family near and far can participate in this chance to dispel negativity and bring vast merit into our world! For anyone contributing to or joining this retreat for the first time, even briefly, Rinpoche taught again and again how powerful it is to connect to the blessing of this practice even for five minutes, or to offer one flower, or one dollar in support of it. Welcome to all, and welcome back to all those returning to visit this ongoing mandala of enlightened activity, manifesting goodness and relief in these difficult times. May there be great benefit! |
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Texts Needed for the Vajrasattva Retreat: |
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| The Sadhana of Offering to the Lama, the Embodiment of All Mandalas, which includes Enlightened Activities to Benefit Others, the Essence of All Mandalas, entitled The Chariot of Great Merit, by Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche (2019 edition)
Digital Text Link Always available; immediate download.
Printed Text Link A few copies are still available in the bookstore for in-person purchase. |
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Other Downloads You Will Need: Please download and print your own personal copies of these: |
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Images of Vajrasattva used on this webpage by permission of Trish DeMers ([email protected]) |
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