Winter Retreat: Ignite the Courageous Heart of Compassion​

A hybrid event both Online via Zoom and Onsite at Nalanda West

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What would it mean to live our lives from a heart-centered place?

Just for a moment, imagine yourself and our world free of suffering, without self-hatred, without other-hatred, free of our neuroses and confusion, free of the challenges and obstacles to experiencing the ever-present resource of a kind heart, of awakened wise love — the very essence that surrounds and infuses us.

Just for a moment, imagine how that might look. Better yet, imagine how that might feel.

Sounds pretty lofty. Or simply naive? Maybe. It is true that we are inundated on a daily basis with so much strife that we often lose faith, feel helpless, or ready to jump into the fight — none of which is the solution. And yet we know from those who have come before us and from some present among us today, a path exists that leads to a wakeful mind and a courageous, compassionate heart.

The question is, how do we re-ignite our motivation to commit to that path? We do so by starting small and with great kindness. We start with ourselves. As Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche reminds us, “If you change, the world has changed.”

The new year is an opportune time to regain our inspiration, and Winter Retreat is an opportune time to launch that fresh start, to ignite the spark for inner transformation. We will start small, choosing one obstacle we’d like to overcome, and then make use of a time-honored guide: The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva by Dzatrul Ngawang Tenzin Norbu. As Rinpoche writes in the foreword, the text “presents an alternative way of thinking, of relating to the outer and inner worlds of everyday living…It is a training manual for thinking outside our usual boxes of culture, religion, and self-centeredness.”

We step into Winter Retreat to discover how these practices are useful for our lives today. We learn to make them personal, relevant solutions to the problems we face on a daily basis. Not lofty, just practical. Not an immediate fix, but an ongoing support that leads to the change we want.

As we explore this essential text, contemplate the maras (obstacles to our path), and practice the liberating path of Mahamudra meditation, we can also pause and reflect upon this past year, setting an aspiration to challenge, understand, and perhaps even overcome our chosen obstacle by igniting our courageous heart, making room for kindness, love, and compassion to infuse our lives — first for ourselves and then for all others.

What to Expect?

Our four days together will focus on meditation, with sessions in the morning and afternoon, followed by Mahamudra meditation in the evening. There will be teachings on the Thirty-seven Practices of a Bodhisattva and Lojong Mind Training plus time for contemplation. 

Acharya Tashi Wangchuk will focus on the Lojong Mind Training teachings, with contemplations on the four Maras or obstacles and obstructing energies we can face on the path.

Acharya Lhakpa Tshering will lead Mahamudra meditation practice, following a text by Milarepa and contemplating his metaphors for practicing: “steady like a mountain,” like a “child in the shrine room,” and “self-luminous like a torch.”

Mitra Mark Power, who led reflections and taught on the first 14 verses of A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva last year, will continue exploring verses 15 – 25.

As part of your registration, you will be given access to Mitra Mark’s four talks on verses 1 – 14, selected from last year’s Winter Retreat.

Ellen Balze and Laura McRae will be leading contemplations for the Path of Mindful Activity.

About Our Teachers

Acharya Tashi Wangchuk

 

Acharya Tashi is the resident teacher at Nalanda West, Nalandabodhi’s center in Seattle. He also serves as the main acharya overseeing all Nalandabodhi centers in North America. 

Born and raised in eastern Bhutan, Acharya Tashi moved to Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, India, at the age of 15. While there, he studied for ten years and graduated from Karma Shri Nalanda Institute, the principal Karma Kagyu monastic college. After his graduation, Acharya Tashi assumed teaching responsibilities for the Karma Kagyu lineage in Hong Kong before returning to Rumtek Monastery to teach at the college from which he graduated.

Acharya Lhakpa Tshering was born in Bhutan and entered monastic school at age 12. In 1993, he enrolled at Rumtek Monastery’s Karma Shri Nalanda Institute in Sikkim, India. In 2002, Acharya Lhakpa graduated with a masters in buddhist studies, also known as an acharya degree. After completing his studies, he served as co-librarian with Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche, as a teacher at Karma Shri Nalanda Institute, and as an editor for Nitartha Publications in Kathmandu, Nepal.

In 2006, Acharya Lhakpa moved to Nalanda West in Seattle, Washington, where he continues to support students as a resident teacher. He is also a visiting teacher at Nalandabodhi centers across the northeastern and central United States, as well as Brazil.

Acharya Lhakpa
Tsering

Mitra Mark Power

Mitra Mark has been a student of the Dharma for Mark has over 30 years of experience supporting, training and coaching people to bring their lives into alignment with their most important values. He is a longtime student of the Buddha’s teachings, studying with his teacher, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, since the early 1990s. Like so many, he came to this path seeking to engage a larger, kinder, more playful sense of being.
His compassionate care for others shines throughout his leadership roles at Nalandabodhi and his work as a chaplain and life coach. Today, Mitra Mark joyfully explores the interplay of dharma, relationships, leadership and the arts, encouraging  generosity of heart, humor and wisdom in every area of life.
Learn more about Mark Power…

Ellen became a student of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche in 2015 and began working with the Core Path of Mindful Activity Team in 2018. She is a clinical psychologist with a background in organizational consulting, and is trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy, a form of psychotherapy based on Buddhist teachings. She has benefited greatly from opportunities (and reminders) to pause, relax, and reflect while collaborating with other East Coast Nalandabodhi members and folks across Nalandabodhi on retreats and other projects. She also enjoys baking bread and caring for succulents.

Ellen Balze

Laura McRae

Laura McRae has been a student of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche since 2005. Born in Los Angeles and educated in Houston, she is teacher of English and Creative Writing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her first full-length collection of poems, Were There Gazelle, appeared from Pedlar Press in spring of 2020.

Schedule

Click here to open the schedule in pdf format.

Mind Without Borders

Like last year, once again we will partner with Mind Without Borders, a prison dharma based out of the New York City Nalandabodhi sangha. The program provides Buddhist study through correspondence courses, dharma pen pals, and meditation instruction.

As Dzogchen Ponlop RInpoche has said about the program’s mission, “We aspire to benefit our most stigmatized members of our society, so they might in turn benefit others and that together, we may spread harmony and happiness in our shared and interdependent worlds — because heart and mind know no prison walls or borders.”

How can you participate and support?

You can participate in MWB by becoming penpals with a prison inmate, either male or female, who is interested in dharma and meditation. Correspondence is anonymous and sent via our MWB post office box. Please contact Isabel Kirsch (mindwithoutbordersnyc@gmail.com) or Jonathan Swann (swannthirdave@gmail.com), the co-directors of MWB, if you would like to become a penpal.

You can also make a donation to MWB to support the prisoners on the path with study materials.

Online Registration

Thank you for your interest to join us online for the Winter Retreat 2023.

Register now

Onsite Registration

Thank you for your interest to join us in-person at Nalanda West (Seattle, WA) for the Winter Retreat 2023.

Register now
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