The United States

Summer Service Retreat 2019

Join US FOR SPECIAL SERVICE RETREAT PRIOR TO Summer RETREAT

Join us at Serenity Ridge June 17–23, 2019 for a special service retreat just before the annual Summer Retreat. Registration is on June 17 at 8 a.m., with work beginning promptly at 9 a.m.

Participants will be given a credit of $10 for each hour of service work performed, to be applied toward the cost of registration for the Summer Retreat on the topic of “Tummo: Inner Fire of Realization,” which begins June 23.

A typical work day consists of six hours, broken down into three-hour morning and afternoon sessions. If you cannot participate in the full retreat, any amount of time you can offer will be appreciated. Service retreat participants who work the full six-hour day will be provided with free dormitory accommodations and simple meals.

This is a wonderful time to share with the sangha and to be of joyful service.

Each day of the work retreat includes daily meditation, vigorous work periods and free time to walk along the Serenity Ridge grounds or the Rockfish River.

Please email the Serenity Ridge Office (sr.office@ligmincha.org) with your request to participate.

Benefit Dinner and Concert

Dinner and Sa Le Ö Musical Healing and Meditation

Don’t miss this special event on June 22 to raise funds to benefit children in Nepal and India. We begin with a festive dinner at Serenity Ridge in Kunzang Khang (House of All Goodness), the center’s new multipurpose facility. Dinner is followed by Sa Le Ö, a very special musical healing and meditation concert created by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche that will be touring the U.S. and Mexico in June 2019.

Sa Le Ö (which means “clear light” in Tibetan), will offer the audience, for about an hour and a half, a meditation and healing experience using the Three Heart Mantras. It features relaxing bamboo flute music by Bansuri flute artist Raman Maharjan from Nepal and the vocals of Tibetan master singer and dancer Tsering Wangmo, who will chant Tibetan mantras. The audience is invited to participate actively in the mantra chanting, creating a connection with the performers. In between each of the three mantra performances, guided meditations will be linked to each of the musical offerings.

In addition, Tibetan lamas will take the stage during the event to offer ancient blessings, transmitted vocally along with related mudras (hand gestures). A brief reading from a sacred Tibetan text will be accompanied by a video illustrating the words being spoken. The entire event is designed to help the audience experience a sense of well-being, peace and joy.

Raman Maharjan is a well-known bansuri flute artist from Nepal. He has performed in countries including Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Norway, Italy, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Tibet, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Australia and the United States.

Tsering Wangmo is a Tibetan performing arts artistic director, and master singer and dancer. A graduate of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamsala, India, she is co-founder and artistic director of Chaksam-pa, a well-known Tibetan dance and opera company in California. Her vocal and dance performances worldwide include Lincoln Center in New York and the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. She has made numerous recordings.

Tentative Schedule

Dinner: 6 p.m.
Concert: 7:30 p.m.

We are excited to announce: His Holiness Lungtok Dawa Dargyal Rinpoche, abbot of Menri Monastery in India and spiritual head of the Tibetan Bön tradition, will attend this special fundraising event!

The Serenity Ridge dinner and Sa Le Ö concert will be followed the next day, June 23, by Serenity Ridge’s Summer Retreat on “Tummo: Inner Fire Realization.” We are honored to have His Holiness Lungtok Dawa Dargyal Rinpoche join Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche in teaching during the two-week retreat.

In addition, Sa Le Ö also will be coming to Houston, Texas June 9. Three concerts are scheduled in Mexico: June 13 in Torreón, June 15 in Mexico City, and June 16 in Valle de Bravo (at the Bön Stupa for World Peace). Proceeds from all performances will be donated through Ligmincha International to support children in marginalized areas of India and Nepal, including Menri Monastery in India.

Cost (dinner and concert): $108

Registration will open January 21 at 9 p.m. Eastern time.

If you wish to attend only the Sa Le Õ fundraising dinner and concert on June 22, register below.

If you wish to attend both the Summer Retreat AND Sa Le Õ, register for both through the Summer Retreat registration process and you will be offered free accommodations the evening of June 22.

To begin the registration process, click on the “Register” button. Enter your credit card information, and then click on the REGISTER NOW button to complete your registration.

Summer Retreat: June 23–July 7, 2019

TUMMO: INNER FIRE OF REALIZATION, PART 2 OF 3

with His Holiness Lungtok Dawa Dargyal Rinpoche and Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

We are honored to have His Holiness, the 34th Menri Trizin (abbot of Menri Monastery and spiritual head of the Tibetan Bön tradition), join Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche in teaching the practice of tummo (inner heat) at Serenity Ridge’s Summer Retreat. Tummo teachings include both tantric and dzogchen support practices to burn away subtle obscurations and cultivate bliss.

Everyone is welcome to attend this retreat, which is Part 2 of a three-part series that will be completed in summer 2020. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche encourages participants to attend both weeks, if possible. If you are only able to attend one week, however, Rinpoche recommends that you attend the first week.

His Holiness will join Tenzin Rinpoche in teaching the practice of tummo during both weeks of the retreat. The tummo teachings come from the text Ku Sum Rang Shar (Spontaneous Arising of the Three Kayas). This text is by Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen Rinpoche, a Bön master who achieved the body of light, or rainbow body, in 1934. Over this summer and the next you will be guided to engage body, speech and mind with the Tibetan yogas of tsa lung and trul khor, and with the prayer, mantra, visualization and inner breath practices of the tummo.

The retreat will include teachings on the three Great Mantras. In addition, during the last two days of the second week (July 6–7), His Holiness will give teachings and empowerment on “The Knowledge and Wisdom of Longevity: Teachings from the Tsewang Jarima.”

Preparation for Tummo Retreat, Part 2 of 3

To prepare for these sacred and profound teachings, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche asks that each participant commits to practicing the Nine Breathings of Purification and Tsa Lung movements for one month prior to the start of the Tummo retreat, from May 22–June 22, 2018.

For those new to these practices, and others who are interested:

Join Marcy Vaughn on February 23 at 11 a.m. Eastern Time for instruction and guided practice on the Nine Breathings of Purification and Tsa Lung movements. Information on how to connect via www.zoom.us will be sent to those who have registered. If you are unable to join the live webcast, register for the retreat after the video instruction or want to watch the recording again, all registered will be sent a link to the video recording.

Recommended reading: Awakening the Sacred Body by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche (Hay House, in the U.S. and U.K.; El Despertar del Cuerpo Sagrado (Gaia Editiones, in Mexico)

Rinpoche also recommends that new students, or those wishing a refresher, register for the free online course, “Starting a Meditation Practice,” offered through Ligmincha Learning.The self-paced course offers instruction videos by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche on the following topics:

Section 1: Connecting with Your Inner Stillness and Silence
Section 2: Using the Breath to Calm the Mind
Section 3: Expanding Your Meditation Practice through Calm Abiding
Section 4: Awakening the Sacred Body with Tsa Lung

Rinpoche suggests that prior to the retreat, we practice the Nine Breathings and Tsa Lung twice daily. If that is not possible, then practice at least once each day. This will prepare us well for the retreat. As a support to enter this upcoming retreat, the mp3 audio recordings from the first week of the Tummo, Part 1 (2018) summer retreat will be available for purchase via digital download. At the beginning of February, a link will be sent to those registered with instructions.

Please note: These practices involve breath retention for significant periods of time. Therefore, anyone with physical, emotional or psychological medical conditions should consult with their physician before engaging in these practices.

Schedule

Week 1: June 23–30, 2019 (arrive after 4 p.m. June 23, dinner at 6 p.m., teaching with Rinpoche at 7:15 p.m. in the gompa; accommodations the nights of June 23–29)
Week 2: July 1–7, 2019 (new participants arrive after 4 p.m. June 30, dinner at 6 p.m.; retreat begins at 9 a.m. on July 1; accommodations the nights of June 30–July 6)
The annual summer fundraising auction will be held during Week 2 on Friday, July 5.

His Holiness Lungtok Dawa Dargyal Rinpoche was appointed the 34th Menri Trizin (abbot of Menri Monastery in Dolanji, India, and spiritual leader of the Tibetan Bön tradition) on January 1, 2018, following the passing of the 33rd Menri Trizin, Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche, the previous September. The 34th Menri Trizin Rinpoche was born November 29, 1972, in Amdo, Tibet. At age 17 he became a monk at Gamal Monastery in Amdo, and at age 18 he joined the Bön Dialectic School of Gamal Monastery. When he was 22 years old, he met the 33rd Menri Trizin, His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche, and he received his geshe degree from Gamal Monastery at age 24. After traveling to Menri Monastery in India when he was 25 years old, Geshe Dawa Dargyal joined received his second geshe degree from Menri in 2012. He spent many years serving the 33rd Menri Trizin, His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche, and played many important roles in the monastery, most recently as general secretary (administrator) of the Yungdrung Bön Monastic Center Society at Menri. In February 2018, Bönpos worldwide joined in celebrating the selection of the 34th Menri Trizin at Menri Monastery. On September 6, 2018, a formal grand enthronement ceremony took place at Menri.

Organized by Ligmincha International, His Holiness is undertaking a three-month teaching tour of Europe and North America, where he will teach at Ligmincha centers in Poland, Mexico and the United States, as well as other Bön centers. His two-week teaching at Serenity Ridge Retreat Center, in Shipman, Virginia, is the first stop on the North American portion of this tour.

In addition, a benefit dinner and special musical healing and meditation concert—including a master flute player from Nepal and a professional Tibetan singer—will be held at Serenity Ridge on June 22, the day before the start of Summer Retreat. The concert tour also will be coming to Houston, Texas and three locations in Mexico. 

If you are registering for Summer Retreat and Sa Le Õ, register for both using the links below.

 New! Add a Personal Practice Retreat immediately following Summer Retreat, at a new lower price.

June 22nd @ 6:00pm

Summer Retreat Cost (includes meals; accommodations extra):

Week 1: $705 received by April 24; $775 after April 24

Week 2: $705 received by April 24; $775 after April 24

Both weeks: $1,250 received by April 24; $1,390 after April 24

For those attending Week 1, check-in for accommodations, including tenting, begins at 4 p.m. on June 23, followed by dinner and evening teaching. Retreat registration includes meals beginning that evening and ending with lunch on the final day of the retreat. If you also wish to attend the Sa Le Õ fundraising dinner and concert on June 22 (cost: $108), register below using the same link; you will be offered free accommodations the evening of June 22.

For those arriving for Week 2, check-in for accommodations, including tenting, begins at 4 p.m. on June 30, followed by dinner. Registration includes meals beginning that evening and ending with lunch on the final day of the retreat.

To begin the registration process, click on the “Register” button. Fill out the form. On the following page, click on your choice of accommodations (“commuter” if not staying onsite), fill out the form to include any discount code or donation, enter your credit card information, and then click on the REGISTER NOW button to complete your registration.

Please note: Room reservations are confirmed once payment has been received. If for some reason we do not receive your payment, your registration will be forfeited. If the room option you prefer is unavailable, you will automatically be returned to the Registration Form to select another option. Your registration will not be successful until you have completed the payment process. If you would like to be put on the wait list for a room, contact our registrar.

Serenity Ridge is pleased to offer a self-guided personal practice retreat for all who are interested. Whether you are practicing the teachings of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, participating in The 3 Doors, have another practice or just wish to relax in a serene atmosphere in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in central Virginia, you are welcome to join us. Come and enjoy Serenity Ridge at your own pace: take a leisurely stroll around the property, enjoy the Rockfish River and deepen your practice in the Garuda House Shrine Room.

You are welcome to do a personal practice retreat from the evening of July 7–10.

Silent practice (no chants, mantras or vocalizations) for those on individual retreats will be held in the Garuda House Shrine Room. Retreatants also may use the meditation hall for practice with sound. Individual practice retreats include use of the Shrine Room and Serenity Ridge grounds, and all meals (accommodations extra). Three meals per each 24-hour period are included in the registration price.

Retreat Cost (includes meals; accommodations extra): $40 per day (new lower price!)
Check-in for accommodations, including tenting, and registration can begin as early as 4 p.m. on July 7. Retreat registration includes three meals, starting with dinner on arrival night.

To begin the registration process, click on the “Register” button. Fill out the form. On the following page, click on your choice of accommodations (“commuter” if not staying onsite), fill out the form to include any discount code or donation, enter your credit card information, and then click on the REGISTER NOW button to complete your registration.

Please note: Room reservations are confirmed once payment has been received. If for some reason we do not receive your payment, your registration will be forfeited. If the room option you prefer is unavailable, you will automatically be returned to the Registration Form to select another option. Your registration will not be successful until you have completed the payment process. If you would like to be put on the wait list for a room, contact our registrar.

“You are the great completeness you have been searching for.”

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

Spontaneous Creativity, the title of Rinpoche’s newest book, “draws on the ancient teachings of the Tibetan Bon Buddhist tradition to guide us in developing the ability to show up fully for our lives and express our creative gifts for the greater good.”  Rinpoche will offer support for participants to engage their creative nature, release pain identities that create blockages, and awaken to greater inspiration, awareness, openness, and abilities to joyfully serve others.

Chamma Ling Colorado invites you to join in an engaging weekend of heart felt teachings and sharing.  This year’s annual event with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will be in Boulder, CO at the beautiful Shambhala Center, conveniently located downtown.

Schedule: A public talk (6:00-7:30) will be offered Thursday evening with a book signing to follow.  Friday morning teachings will begin at 9:00, concluding that evening at 5:00.  Saturday will also open at 9:00 and later that day we will have a fun and lively auction with beautiful items from around the world.  This annual fund raiser directly supports Chamma Ling Retreat Center in Crestone, CO; nestled in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, offering solitary and/or dark retreats for practitioners.  Following the auction, a traditional feast will be provided (cost included in registration), along with entertainment from retreat participants.  We conclude on Sunday at noon.

Lodging and Meals: A gala dinner will be provided Saturday evening, and tea and snacks will be provided at breaks. There are many nearby restaurant options for lunches during the retreat, and numerous lodging options throughout the Boulder area.

Child Care: We will not be providing child care during this retreat.

Registration: Tuition for this three day retreat is $300, or $285 if paid before August 20. Registration is now open.  

Guidance for Living and Dying:

Commentary on the Bardo Teachings from the BÖn Mother Tantra

The word “bardo” means “in between” in Tibetan, including the time between life and death, and the time between death and rebirth.The teachings on the bardo are one of the six great methods of the path of the Mother Tantra (Tib: Ma Gyü), one of the major tantric cycles of Bön.

During this retreat, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will offer guidance on living and dying. Rinpoche will lead participants in exploring the strong connection between the practice of impermanence and the bardo teachings at the transition between life and death. In the process of dying, one of the most challenging things, and what makes transition difficult, is attachment. What produces the fear of impermanence? Is there a way we can contemplate impermanence and not feel that way?

A key issue is that things always change, and we are always in transition. The conclusion of this contemplation on impermanence is to find the changeless self within all of our changing experiences, beyond actions and reactions in daily life. Exploring the experience of the self, Rinpoche will guide students in discovering the true self in the stillness, silence and spaciousness beyond the body, speech and mind.

Ample time for meditation, practice,and questions and answers will be included in the retreat.

The fall retreat will conclude the latest cycle of Rinpoche’s teaching of the six paths of meditation from the Bon Mother Tantra—Sleep, Dream, Elements, Chod, Powa and Bardo.