The practice of Mahamudra meditation is to meditate on the true nature of phenomena with our very subtle mind – or a facsimile of it. This meditation, when qualified, leads directly to enlightenment and thus the ability to directly help each and every living being every day. This is the very essence of Buddha’s teachings, the ultimate purpose for which all his teachings were given.

Through engaging in this practice following the book  The Oral Instructions of the Mahamudra, by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche, we can accomplish this result if we gather the other necessary conditions – which include receiving Highest Yoga Tantra empowerments of Heruka and Vajrayogini and becoming qualified practitioners of the union of Sutra and Tantra as explained in the book Modern Buddhism by the same author.

Through engaging in this retreat, we will create powerful causes for reaching the final goal of a living being, full enlightenment. Through gathering all the essential conditions for our Mahamudra practice to be qualified, we can attain enlightenment even within this one lifetime. This is magical!

There are five stages to this practice:

• Having identified our own mind, meditating on tranquil abiding
• Having realized emptiness, meditating on superior seeing
• Meditating on the central channel, the yoga of the central channel
• Meditating on the indestructible drop, the yoga of the drop
• Meditating on the indestructible wind, the yoga of the wind

Friday Jan 22, we have an introductory talk (Wisdom and Faith: two essentials for navigating difficult times) that is open to everyone). If we fail to develop our wisdom and our faith, our Mahamudra practice cannot succeed; on the other hand if we develop these, all realizations will become possible. To prepare for this retreat, it is helpful but not necessary to also go the the two preceding public talks on the two previous Fridays, Finding Stillness Within and Letting Go…

Over the weekend we will meditate on the first two stages of the five stages, and on Monday and Tuesday we will meditate on the remaining three stages. Thus the weekend will constitute a weekend of meditating on the mind and the true nature of phenomena with a facsimile of a very subtle mind. The weekdays we will be engaged in completion stage meditation of Highest Yoga Tantra.

*Participants of the Monday/Tuesday part of this retreat should possess Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka empowerment or Highest Yoga Tantra empowerments of Heruka and Vajrayogini within the Kadampa Tradition or to have the intention to receive these at the earliest possibility.

All teachings will be available on demand until Feb 2.