Luminous Body Retreat
༄༅།། བླ་མེད་རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཉམས་ལེན་ལས་འཇའ་ལུས་འོད་སྐུ་གདམ་ངག་ཆེན་མོ་་མན་ངག་སྒྲོན་མ་དྲུག་གི་སྐོར།
Meditation is a fundamental key to creating inner peace and peace in the world. There are many ways to meditate. Closing one’s eyes, being in silence, holding the correct hand gestures and body position while maintaining an empty mind, produce a satisfying meditation. However, silence and a calm mind are not enough for the liberation meditation path.
Some practitioners never progress beyond the calm mind. Others become so entranced with the empty mind that they do not continue to expand their awareness of wisdom. Without deepening one’s wisdom, the mind is not fully grounded, and it can become unstable in many ways. Learning the techniques of effective meditation can help you create and maintain inner peace, health and ultimately attain the Luminous Body.
For this, we need to go beyond empty mind meditation. We must look instead toward the strength of self-awareness meditation, which allows us to grow in wisdom more easily. With this proper introduction to the nature of the mind, you will learn ways to develop and recognize the natural wisdom inherent in your mind.
This “Luminous Body” teaching comes from an ancient Tibetan tradition with an unbroken lineage in Dzogchen teaching. Dzogchen focuses on self-liberation and shows us that all phenomena come from the mind, stay in the mind, and dissolve into the mind. All of our life experiences—happiness, suffering, struggling—are created by our mind. Since all of these experiences exist within the mind, our mind has the power to modify happiness into suffering, suffering into happiness, and ultimately to transform our physical body into a Luminous Body.
The wisdom of the mind is self-awareness. This means that all phenomena, including the body and any afflictions, can be transformed into light and at the final stage, we can liberate ourselves into the Luminous Body(also known as the Rainbow Body).
In the Dzogchen tradition, these teachings are called A Tri, Nyengyue and scripture Dzogchen. Special NyenGyue Dzogchen knowledge was passed along through oral teachings for over 2000 years in Zhang Zhung. This lineage produced 23 masters and the last of these, Tapihritsa (the “Luminous Boy”), was the first to write down these teachings, known as the “Six Diamonds” Teaching. This foundational Dzogchen teaching guides one in the most effective way to realize self-awareness and attain the Luminous Body or Dzogchen enlightenment.
This teaching will be very helpful for both experienced and novice practitioners.
For more details, please contact Bon Shen Ling retreat manager, Cheri Brady:
Email: cheri@bonshenling.org
Phone: 413 525 1698
Direct line: 413 636 8681
Retreat Cost:
*Bon Shen Ling Sustaining Members receive a 10% discount; Supporting Members receive a 5% discount
Please Note: Due to the number of early registrations that have come in and the increased interest in this retreat, there are now only double occupancy rooms available. If you desire a single room, please note your request in the “comment section” of the registration form. There will be a waiting list for single rooms should they become available. The waiting list will be kept according to when the registrations come in. The earlier you register the higher your name is on the waiting list. If all the rooms are not filled and a single room is available you will be notified and billed for the difference in price.
If you want a specific roommate, please note their name in the “comment section” of the registration form. Trinity has one room with three beds and it will be used as double occupancy unless otherwise requested. The price for triple occupancy is the same as the double room.
We hope to accommodate all retreat participants at the Trinity Conference Center, however if there is an overflow we will direct you to nearby B&Bs and hotels.
Registration through April 20, 2012: Single $809 (not available) / Double $621 / Commuter $439
Registration after April 20, 2012: Single $884 (not available) / Double $696 / Commuter $514
Cancellation Policy: 10% nonrefundable administrative fee; within 20 days of event, 75% refund after administrative fee; within seven days, no refund.
