Turning the Wheel of Dharma
Looking ahead to the Annual Retreat
Each year since 1996, the Venerable Khandro Rinpoche has offered her western students an intensive practice and study of the Three Yanas. Although the programs can be viewed as annual sequential courses of study, each retreat also offers a complete journey from refuge to realization.
Gateway Program
During
the three-day Gateway Program, Rinpoche has offered foundational teachings
on the Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind to the Dharma: understanding
the preciousness of our human birth, the truth of impermanence, cause
and effect, and the limitations of our usual approaches to happiness.
Students have had an opportunity to deepen their understanding of the
Three Jewels: the Buddha, dharma and sangha, and been offered an opportunity
to take the refuge vow.
During this year’s Gateway Program, from Thursday August 3 – Sunday August 6, Rinpoche will be deepening our understanding of shamatha and vipashyana through her teaching on the Ocean of Certainty, a classic guide to meditation written by the 9th Karmapa. The Gateway Program is an ideal way for newer students to deepen their study and practice of buddhadharma, and for older students to strengthen the foundation of their practice.
Being in the presence of Rinpoche's brilliant teachings, one feels the blessings of the lineage and the strength to go beyond doubt and hesitation.
Mahayana Program
Rinpoche traditionally teaches from classical texts that elucidate the Abhidharma and the progressive stages of contemplation on emptiness. In these teachings, students are encouraged to develop their powers of inquiry and investigate the seeming solidity of their experience. For the past two years, Rinpoche has also been presenting Khenchen Kunzang Palden's classic commentary on the Way of the Bodhisattva. These teachings have provided us with an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the benefits of bodhichitta and the importance of practicing transcendent virtue.
During the Mahyana Program, from Sunday August 6 – Sunday August 13, Rinpoche will be continuing with her commentary on the Bodhisattvacarya-avatara, and will also be teaching on The Aspiration Prayer of Mahamudra by the 3rd Karmapa. The mahayana portion of the retreat is open to all students with some amount of Buddhist study and practice, and is ideal for those who have taken refuge and wish to deepen their understanding of the mahayana path and the bodhisattva vow.
Vajrayana Program
In the Vajrayana Program, Rinpoche presents teachings on ngöndro, also known as the extraordinary preliminaries, and the creation and completion practices based on the Vajrasattva cycle of teachings discovered as terma by the founder of the Mindrolling lineage, Terdak Lingpa. Each year Rinpoche also presents teachings of the profound view from texts written by such sublime masters as Padmasambhava, Garab Dorje, Jigme Lingpa, Shabkyar, Mingyur Paldron and Patrul Rinpoche.
During the vajrayana portion from Sunday August 6 – Sunday August 20 students will be presented teachings on The Aspiration Prayer of Mahamudra, as well as on the profound view of kadag, or primordial purity. The vajrayana portion of the retreat is open to the vajrayana students of the Venerable Khandro Rinpoche and also to those who have her permission to attend.
Experiencing the blessings of the lineage
The Annual Retreat allows students to enter into the full mandala of the wisdom, compassion and skillful means of a realized master. The rigor of the retreat environment interrupts our usual habitual patterns, thereby creating continual opportunities to be in the moment and to work for the benefit of others. Within this intensified practice environment, students often experience heightened insight and the capacity to go beyond their usual limitations. Being in the presence of Rinpoche's brilliant teachings, one feels the blessings of the lineage and the strength to go beyond doubt and hesitation.
Contributed by: Jann Jackson
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Photo: Khadags offered at the Lotus Garden throne of His Holiness Mindrolling Trichen, head of the Mindrolling lineage.©2006 Mindrolling International, All rights reserved.