Event : Summer Retreat with Garchen and Chetsang Rinpoche
Date : July 29-August 15
Venue : Garchen Buddhist Institute
Website : http://www.garchen.net/schedule.html#summer
July 26: His Holiness Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche arrives as The Garchen Institute
Note: To receive the empowerment, you must attend all three days, July 29-31. It is acceptable to attend just the first day, July 29, if you do not wish to receive the empowerment.
DESCRIPTION OF EVENTS
Note: The preregistration deadline for all events is July 22
July 29: Preliminary Teachings on Deity Yoga Practice, with His Holiness Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche
Deity Yoga consists of two parts, the creation phase and the completion phase. The creation phase, or the visualization of the deity, can first of all be a practice of shamata (calm abiding), as one trains in the single-pointed meditation on the deity. This purifies our habitual identification with the body, the grasping to the body as existing substantially. When we practice Deity Yoga we grow familiar with who we really are. We come to understand that our mind actually has the nature of the deity-that the deity has arisen from the mind. Furthermore, all phenomena have arisen from this mind and are therefore divine by nature. Both samsara and nirvana have arisen from the mind and do not exist beyond it. In order to realize this, we engage in Deity Yoga. The creation phase purifies our grasping at the body and the belief in its reality. It purifies the existence of birth, as the creation of the deity directly relates to the way in which a being is born. The comp letion phase is also called the dissolution stage, as the entire visualization dissolves. This relates directly to the death process in which the elements and thoughts dissolve one by one until one reaches the empty dharmakaya. Death and the completion stage are quite similar. The practice of the completion phase purifies the existence of death.
July 30: Five-Deities Cakrasamvara Great Empowerment: Preparatory Empowerment, with His Holiness Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche
July 31: Five-Deities Cakrasamvara Great Empowerment: Actual Empowerment, with His Holiness Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche
Note: To receive the empowerment, you must attend all three days, July 29-31. It is acceptable to attend just the first day, July 29, if you do not wish to receive the empowerment.
REGISTERING FOR EVENTS
You are welcome to participate in all or part of the Summer Teachings as your schedule permits, with the following exceptions: In order to receive the Cakrasamvara Empowerment, you must attend all three days with His Holiness Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, July 29-31. It is acceptable to attend just the teachings on July 29 if you do not wish to receive the empowerment. In order to participate in the Cakrasamvara Drubchen, August 3-8, you must have received a Cakrasamvara Empowerment (you may attend as many days of the drubchen as your schedule permits).
Preregistration is required for all events. To preregister, please remit by July 22 your nonrefundable deposit of one day's tuition (tuition is $30/day) and 50% of the cost of meals you wish to purchase ($4 for breakfast, $8 for lunch, $8 for dinner). Please note that your meal deposit must be received by the deadline in order to guarantee availability. The only onsite lodging that will be available for this event is indoor camping (you bring your own sleeping bag and mat and sleep in the temple or stupa, and the cost is $15/night) and outdoor camping (you bring your own tent, etc., and the cost is $8/night). Please see below for other lodging options.
To preregister or inquire about work-study, please email the Institute at [email protected] or call 928-925-1237. For more information, please visit our website at www.garchen.net.
Cakrasamvara is the principal yidam (meditation deity) of all the Kagyu lineages. In the old tantras that were brought from India it is said that this deity is the utmost essence of all the deities and all the tantras. The reason we do this practice is to purify the habitual tendencies of samsara and to purify all obscurations. We are also purifying the imprints of the birth process. When we engage in the creation stage practice of Cakrasamvara, the practice that utilizes bliss as the method, we come to an understanding of the wisdom of bliss and emptiness. This is called the illustrative wisdom, depending on which we realize the actual nature of wisdom, which is Mahamudra
Cakrasamvara emanated from the Buddha Vajradhara and was the treasured yidam (meditation deity) of Lord Jigten Sumgon, the founder of the Drikung Kagyu lineage, and is considered to be the chief yidam within the Drikung Kagyu lineage. The general lineage derives from Vajradhara down to Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, Milarepa, Gampopa, and Phagmo Drupa, and the tradition of practicing Cakrasamvara was established by Ga Lotsawa, a contemporary of Phagmo Drupa.
Drupon Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche provided the following information about His Holiness Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche and Cakrasamvara: "His Holiness Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche has a very strong connection to Cakrasamvara, with the lineage going back to Lord Jigten Sumgon, Phagmo Drupa, and so forth, as indicated above. Cakrasamvara was the primary yidam deity for them all. Throughout 40 royal successions up until the present Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, all masters and lineage holders of the Drikung Kagyu lineage have practiced Cakrasamvara as their main deity. In addition, most of the eighty great Indian mahasiddas and all past Kagyu masters have attained the highest accomplishment through depending on Cakrasamvara. His Holiness Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinopche has accomplished the traditional Cakrasamvara retreat and considers him to be his primary deity.
"For practitioners of the Drikung Kagyu lineage, it is most important and very precious to have the good fortune to receive the empowerment of Cakramsavara from His Holiness. The lineage of this practice has been sustained uninterruptedly, utterly pure and without samaya breakage, and thus its blessings have not vanished. Whoever is able to receive the Cakrasamvara empowerment from His Holiness will receive the blessings of this immaculate and powerful lineage and should consider themselves extraordinarily fortunate. Along with His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche, I am very happy to be able to welcome His Holiness Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rincpohe to The Garchen Institute and encourage you not to miss this precious opportunity to make this very rare connection."
Directions :
Note: Please plan to arrive before 8 p.m.
From Phoenix, drive north on I-17 (toward Flagstaff), take the Cordes Junction exit and drive west on Highway 69 toward Prescott. You will pass through Prescott Valley and then, on the outskirts of Prescott, stay in the far right lane and take the turnoff (to the right or north) to Highway 89 to Chino Valley.
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Drive north on Highway 89 about 15 miles to Chino Valley, and stay in the right-hand lane. Continue on Highway 89 through the stop light by a large Safeway store. Watch for the Stockman's Bank on your right, then a small blue triangular “County Road 70” sign , then a green “Perkinsville Road” sign — turn right (east) onto Perkinsville Road.
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Drive east on Perkinsville Road for 9.5 miles — the road is paved for about the first 3 miles, and then turns to a gravel road. Drive carefully and slowly (do not exceed the speed limit, as town police regularly patrol this road), watching for free-roaming cattle and antelope. At about 9.25 miles you will see a farm house with a windmill on your right. Keep driving about another quarter mile on Perkinsville Road, and you will see our gate on your right. Our gate is green metal and has a white sign saying "Garchen Buddhist Institute.” The sign on the gate is hard to read at night, but it has a reflective-tape border that glows bright blue at night, making it easy to locate after sundown. Turn right into our unpaved driveway and follow it about 1/2 mile to the visitors’ parking lot. You will pass a house on your left before going up the hill to the parking lot. From the parking lot walk up the path to the temple and office. For handicapped access or deliveries, drive through the parking lot and take the first right, which leads to handicapped parking, the temple, stupa, office, and dining room/kitchen.
CAMPERS:
1. Setting up camp: Please check in at the registration desk in the Support Building by the temple for instructions on where to set up camp.
2. Cooking: NO FIRES or FLAME will be allowed - you should therefore order the onsite meals, or plan for meals requiring no cooking.
3. Rain or Snow: You should also be prepared for rain (or, in winter, snow) accompanied by strong wind.
4. Facilities Provided: Showers and toilets are available at the Support Building. A solar shower and water faucet are located near the camping area. (You should bring water containers/jugs.)
5. Food Storage/Garbage Disposal: To prevent wildlife from being attracted to the camping area - including the possibility of black bears or mountain lions, and the higher possibility of wild pigs, bob cats, and rodents:
a) Do NOT store foods in your tent, not even cough drops or other items with food or attractive scents.
b) Do NOT let food-garbage remain in your tent or camp area overnight.
http://www.garchen.net/eventguide.html