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Summer Retreats in New Mexico
This year, we are offering two back-to-back ten-day retreats for experienced practitioners. The first will will be on mahamudra, and the other on dzogchen. Participants will have the option to stay on at Mandala Center between retreats if they are participating in both.
- Mahamudra: The Pointing Out Instructions (July 30-August 9)
- Dzogchen: Buddhahood without Meditation (August 13-August 23)
Mahamudra: The Pointing Out Instructions
- When July 30-August 9 2008
- Where Des Moines, New Mexico
- Teacher Ken McLeod
- Levels Experienced practitioners, minimum 3 years practice experience
- Cost $1650 double accommodation, $2500 single (if available). $100 deposit with application.
- Application Click here to apply
Don't recall.
Don't imagine.
Don't think.
Don't examine.
Don't control.
Rest.
—Tilopa
These lines are one example of "pointing out instructions", the pith instructions of mahamudra.
But how do you work with them?
Traditionally, one learns to rest, then to see, and then to know the nature of mind, of experience, of being. This knowing is usually uncovered through pointing out instructions received from one's teacher.
The aim of the retreat is to know directly the nature of experience. Participants will work directly with pointing out instructions, in both group practice and instruction and in the regular individual interviews with the teacher. For this retreat, Ken draws on his own experience with Kalu Rinpoche, Karmapa XVI, and Dezhung Rinpcohe as well as such traditional texts as Clarifying the Natural State.
Dzogchen: Buddhahood without Meditation
- When August 13 - August 23
- Where Des Moines, New Mexico
- Teacher Ken McLeod
- Levels Experienced practitioners, minimum 3 years practice experience
- Cost $1650 double accommodation, $2500 single (if available). $100 deposit with application.
- Application Click here to apply
Mind itself is utterly without root, like space.
Just as space does not refer to the nature of space,
Nor can awareness be pointed out by illustrations.
—Jigme Lingpa
This is the heart of the matter, isn't it? How can you know that which cannot be pointed to?
In this ten-day retreat, Ken will teach Buddhahood without Meditation, a series of dzogchen instructions that point the student again and again to the natural awareness (rigpa) that is present in all experience.
Through group practice and instruction and regular individual interviews in the open skies of north-eastern New Mexico, participants in this retreat will have a unique opportunity to recognize and stabilize the knowing that is at the heart of all Buddhist practice.
Two retreats together: For those who wish, you have the option of attending both retreats and staying at The Mandala Center for an unbroken 24-day retreat. People who attend both retreats will continue with practice and interviews during the interim. Additional cost for the interim days: $500
About the Teacher
Ken McLeod Ken McLeod began his studies in 1970 with the Tibetan meditation master, the Ven. Kalu Rinpoche. After receiving training in the Kagyu, Shangpa, and Nyingma traditions of Buddhism in Tibet, he was authorized by Kalu Rinpoche to teach and guide others in their practice. A translator and author, Ken established Unfettered Mind in 1990 and is the executive director of Unfettered Mind. To find out more about Ken, click here.