Lama Tsongkhapa and the Great Perfection

The Contemplary is delighted to present this advanced three day residential seminary with Dr. Alan Wallace and Dr. Eva Natanya.

During this retreat, Alan Wallace and Eva Natanya will offer guided meditations and oral commentary to the text of pith instructions on the theory and practice of the Great Perfection called An Ornament of the Enlightened View of Samantabhadra composed by Jé Tsultrim Zangpo, a close disciple of the renowned Dzogchen master Lerab Lingpa (1856-1926). This will be complemented by explanation of some key ideas from A Jeweled Mirror of Pure Appearances: Establishing the Unity of the Views of the Old and New Translation Schools of the Secret Mantrayāna, by Lozang Do-Ngak Chökyi Gyatso.

Alan translated these texts (both of which appear in his book, Open Mind) specifically at the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, for they highlight the compatibility between the views of Tsongkhapa and Dzogchen. In his work, Jé Tsultrim Zangpo presents a concise, authoritative account of common and uncommon preliminary practices for Dzogchen, the śamatha method of settling the mind in its natural state, emptiness and dependent origination, the essential and manifest natures of pristine awareness, the path of cutting through to original purity, including the four kinds of open presence, and finally, a concise reference to the path of the spontaneously actualized direct crossing over. Lozang Do-Ngak Chökyi Gyatso explains point by point the deeper compatibility between Tsongkhapa and Longchenpa’s interpretations of the view of the Middle Way, despite apparent differences.

These are advanced texts, and participants in this retreat should already have a firm foundation in the sūtrayāna, as well as some familiarity with Dzogchen, which can be acquired, for example, by taking Alan’s Wisdom Publications online course on Düdjom Lingpa’s text The Foolish Dharma of an Idiot Clothed in Mud and Feathers.

The lectures and meditations in this retreat will address questions that often arise for those practicing daily Vajrayāna sādhanas in the lineage of Lama Tsongkhapa, while also closely following the teachings and practice of Dzogchen.

Schedule
(This a three full day event spread over four days)

Monday 23rd November 2020:

Registration 4.00pm to 5.00pm
Dinner 6.00 pm
Welcome & Meditation: 7.00pm to 8.00pm

Tuesday and Wednesday 24/25th November 2020

Breakfast: 7.30 am
Teaching: 9.00 am to 12.00 pm
Lunch: 12.00 pm
Teaching: 2.00 am to 5:00 pm
Dinner 6.00 pm
Q&A: 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm

Thursday 26th November 2020

Breakfast: 7.30 am
Teaching: 9.00 am to 12.00 pm
Lunch: 12.00 pm
Teaching: 2.00 am to 5:00 pm (close of event)

Atisha Buddhist Centre

25 Sandhurst Town Rd, Myers Flat VIC 3556, Australia

Where

The Atisha Buddhist Centre, 25 Sandhurst Town Rd, Myers Flat VIC 3556

When

November 23rd to 26th .

Cost

This is a residential retreat incorporating catering and three days and nights at the Atisha Centre in country Victoria. The fees do not include payment of the teachers but participants are asked to consider making a donation in the tradition or spirit of Dana. You can do that when you pay on line, or during the event. Three prices are available at an Early Bird rate or at the Full rate. Each price reflects the kind of accommodation you want. Atisha offer a very limited number of shared accommodation rooms. There are 5 rooms with 2 beds in each and there is one room with 4 beds. Genders are separated so if you are a couple of different genders you will only be able to share the same room if one of the two bed rooms is available when you book. You can also camp at a powered, or unpowered site. Alternatively, you may choose to stay off-site in accommodation in Bendigo and its surrounds (perhaps booking an Airbnb). It is a 10 to 20 minute drive from Bendigo to the Atisha Centre depending on where you are located in Bendigo.

Early Bird Fees (available until June 30th)

Shared room: $625
Camping Powered Site: $565
Camping Un-Powered Site: $550
Staying Off Site: $475

Full Fees (applicable from July 1st)

Shared room: $725
Camping Powered Site: $665
Camping Un-Powered Site: $650
Staying Off Site: $575

A members discount of 10% applies to those who are members of The Contemplary.

Bursaries

A small number of bursaries will be available to ensure that, where possible, people with financial difficulties are not prevented from participating in this retreat. If you require assistance please write to charles@thecontemplary.

Cancellation policy

Cancellation received in writing more than 30 days before the start of the retreat will receive a 50% refund of the registration fee. We regret that no refunds can be made if the cancellation is received within 30 days of the start of the retreat.

Catering

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner will be provided. All food will be vegetarian. Atisha will also cater for two additional kinds of dietary needs, Vegan and Non-Dairy. You can request either option when you book.

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Dr. Alan Wallace

A prominent voice in the emerging discussion between contemporary Buddhist thinkers and scientists who question the materialist presumptions of their 20th-century paradigms, Alan Wallace left his college studies in 1971 and moved to Dharamsala, India to study Tibetan Buddhism, medicine and language. He was ordained by H.H. the Dalai Lama, and during fourteen years as a monk he studied with and translated for several of the generation’s greatest lamas. In 1984 he resumed his Western education at Amherst College where he studied physics and the philosophy of science. He then applied that background to his PhD research at Stanford on the interface between Buddhism and Western science and philosophy. Since 1987 he has been a frequent translator and contributor to meetings between the Dalai Lama and prominent scientists, and he has written and translated more than 40 books. Along with his scholarly work, Alan is regarded as one of the West’s preeminent meditation teachers and retreat guides. He is the founder and director of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies and is the motivating force behind the development of the Centre for Contemplative Research in Tuscany, Italy.

Dr Eva Natanya

A scholar of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, an academic lecturer, writer, translator, and retreat leader, Eva Natanya had a nine-year career as a professional ballet dancer with both the New York City Ballet and the Royal Ballet of England. She earned an MA in Christian Systematic Theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, and a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia. For more than twenty years, she has studied meditation, yoga, and philosophy in both the Christian and Buddhist traditions with master teachers in the United States, England, and India. She is the editor of Open Mind: View and Meditation in the Lineage of Lerab Lingpa (2018) and co-editor of Fathoming the Mind: Inquiry and Insight in Düdjom Lingpa’s Vajra Essence (2018), both by Dr. B. Alan Wallace. Her own work explores the deep connections between Christian and Buddhist thought at rigorous levels of theology, ethics, mysticism, and contemplative prayer. Eva has spent more than thirty months in solitary meditation retreat, and will soon return to full-time meditation practice, living in the remote mountains of Colorado.