Mahamudra Study and Practice Workshop

Service Description

***Workshop offered online and in person*** To reserve your place, a 20% deposit of NZ 96.00 is required with the balance of $ 384.00 final payment due by 28th August. Buddhist teachings encourage us to examine every aspect of our experience and question our assumptions and ingrained beliefs. Through this reflection, we recognize the shared wish of all beings to find happiness and be free from suffering. This brings clarity to our purpose: to realise the Buddha nature that is our natural human inheritance. In this light, the path to liberation becomes a central priority, for our own benefit and for the benefit of others. This 3 -day Study and practice workshop offers an immersive and experiential opportunity to learn and practice under the guidance of IX Traleg Kyabon Rinpoche. Ritual practice led by Lama Nyima Gelek Study Groups led by Ani Jangchub Lhamo The retreat focuses on two intertwining themes. The first aspect is in laying the ground for practice with an introduction to the preliminary practices of Mahamudra Shamatha (Sanskrit: śamatha) which is commonly translated as calm abiding. The Tibetan term, shi-né, points to something much deeper, a meditative stillness, or a mind settled in profound tranquillity rather than simply becoming quiet. In practice, shamatha is the intentional training of attention. Rather than suppressing the mind, it cultivates an awareness that is relaxed, steady, and clear. Ordinary concentration often creates tension in both body and mind. Shamatha develops a different kind of alertness, one that comes from balancing effort with ease. The second aspect encapsulates the second preliminary practice of Mahamudra Vipaysana. Our understanding of reality, shaped by science, often creates habitual ways of thinking that do not reach beyond what the senses and reason can grasp. In the Buddhist tradition, however, the mind is seen as operating within a broader reality. Sensory perception and intellect are valuable, but they are too limited to fully explain the nature of reality. Even if one is not intending to engage in such practices, a basic understanding of Vipaysana can still deepen our experience on both the relative and ultimate levels. Mahamudra highlights our capacity for awakening by revealing that the seeds of enlightenment already exist within our deluded condition. It suggests that what exists in potential can be brought into realization through the skillful means of Mahamudra.