03-06.01.20 Tsatsa and Mantra Roll Workshop
Course schedule:
Begins: Friday, January 3rd, 6 AM (dinner)
Ends: Monday, January 6th, after lunch
Course fee:
75 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For the construction of our stupa, which will take place end of this month, we will make further filling material: tsatsas and mantra rolls. This workshop is a good opportunity to share in the merit of the building of a stupa.
10-12.01.20 Tsatsa and Mantra Roll Workshop
Course schedule:
Begins: Friday, January 10th, 6 AM (dinner)
Ends: Sunday, January 12th, after lunch
Course fee:
50 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For the construction of our stupa, which will take place end of this month, we will make further filling material: tsatsas and mantra rolls. This workshop is a good opportunity to share in the merit of the building of a stupa.
01.-04/05.02.2019 Ceremonies for the Construction of the Stupa in Halscheid
Lama Tashi Dondrup from Canada will lead the ceremonies for the construction of the stupa. We will make pujas and prayers together, which accompany the construction and the filling of the stupa.
We will begin each morning at 7 AM with the taking of the Mahayana vows. We cannot foresee yet how long the constructions will last, we plan to finish on February 5th at the latest. Since we start early in the morning, it is adviceable to arrive at the center on January 31st. Anybody who wants to join the ceremonies has to take the vows at 7 AM in order to participate.
Course schedule:
Begins: Saturday, February 1st at 7 AM
Ends: Wednesday, February 5th at the latest (Depending on the progress of the construction)
Course fee:
250 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
Born 1953 in Tibet, Lama Tashi was brought up in Bhutan after his escape from his home country. Under the guidance of his father, who is himself a lama of the Nyingma lineage, he started to study Buddhist dharma from an early age on. After being ordained by H.H. the 16. Gyalwa Karmapa, he was further educated in Rumtek monastery in Sikkim.
Lama Tashi spent 16 years in Rumtek, were he was responsible for the education of the young monks. He then went into a 3-year retreat, followed by another year of Kalachakra retreat.
In 1988 he was sent to Kamalashila Institute in Germany, where he was teaching for the next 10 years. Since 1998 he teaches at a Buddhist center in Canada.
07-09.02.20 White Tara – Teachings and Practice
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Begins: Friday, February 07th 2020 at 7 PM (dinner starts 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, February 09th 2020 after lunch
Course fee:
150 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
White Tara, (Skrt. Cintachakra “Wish-fulfilling Wheel”) is the female Bodhisattva Tara who embodies long life, healing and serenity. With her seven wisdom eyes in head, hands and feet, she sees the suffering of beings in all realms of existence and the three times, and like a loving mother comes to the aid of all who need and call to her. As a focus for tantric deity yoga, the practice of Tara can be traced back to Yeshe Tsogyal and Padmasambhava, and to this day is widespread in all Dharma schools in Tibet. Many of the great masters of Vajrayana Buddhism have chosen her as their personal yidam, including the present Dalai Lama.
18-24.02.20 Great Mahakala Puja and Losar Festivities
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Begins: Tuesday 18th February at 4:30 PM
Ends: Monday 24th February after lunch
Course fee:
240 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
Losar is the Tibetan New Year, a time of auspicious beginnings.
Traditionally this holiday is preceded with a four-day celebration of the longer version of the Mahakala puja. Through the purifying and pacifying powers of the chief Dharma Protector of the Kagyu order, we clear away the negativities of the past year and pray for good luck and the removal of any obstacles in the new.
Mahakala is the wrathful form of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion; he provides support for the auspicious development of dharma activities, dharma centers and dharma practitioners everywhere. A short version of the Mahakala puja is one of the daily practices in the Halscheid Retreat Center.
The long Mahakala practice phase starts on Tuesday February 18th at 4.30 pm and ends on Saturday February 22nd with the burning of the tuntor and a traditional oracle soup in the evening.
We begin celebrating Losar on the 23rd at 10 AM with a fire offering puja for the happiness and peace of all sentient beings in the world. We close the evening with a meditation on Avalokiteshvara.
We finish the festivities on Monday, February 24th with butter tea and saffron rice and then a delicious Losar lunch, enjoying each other’s smiles and best wishes for a happy and joyous Metal Mouse year.
06-08.03.20 White Tara Retreat
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Begins: Friday, March 06th 2020 at 7 PM (dinner starts 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, March 08th 2020 after lunch
Course fee:
150 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
White Tara, (Skrt. Cintachakra “Wish-fulfilling Wheel”) is the female Bodhisattva Tara who embodies long life, healing and serenity. With her seven wisdom eyes in head, hands and feet, she sees the suffering of beings in all realms of existence and the three times, and like a loving mother comes to the aid of all who need and call to her. As a focus for tantric deity yoga, the practice of Tara can be traced back to Yeshe Tsogyal and Padmasambhava, and to this day is widespread in all Dharma schools in Tibet. Many of the great masters of Vajrayana Buddhism have chosen her as their personal yidam, including the present Dalai Lama.
09.03.20 Chothrul Duchen – Fire Offering And Information Day for Three-Year-Retreat
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Begins: Monday 9th March 2020 at 10 AM
Ends: Monday 9th March 2020 at 5:30 PM
Course fee:
Without accomodation, lunch only: 15 Euros; all meals: 20 Euros
With accomodation: 30 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
Chothrul Duchen, the butter lamp festival, is one of the highest Tibetan-Buddhist holidays. On this and the preceding 14 days Buddhists are reminded on 15 miracles performed by Buddha Shakyamuni.
We will be celebrating a Fire Offering together, and change the prayer flags outside in the center’s garden.
For those interested in the next Three-Year-Retreat, which will start on Lhabab Duchen on November 7th, 2020, there will be a meeting to discuss the requirements and the course of the retreat, and to make an auspicious connection with the center and the retreat master. Therefore, anybody sincerely interested in the Three-Year-Retreat should attend on this day.
The celebration is also open for everyone who wants to join us in our prayers on such an auspicious day.
11-14.06.2020 Vajrakilaya Retreat
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Begins: Thursday 11th June 2020 at 7 PM (dinner starts 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, 14th June 2020 after lunch
Course fee:
150 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
Vajrakilaya, a wrathful manifestation of Vajrasattva, eradicates ignorance and emotional afflictions that cause obstacles in our daily life and our dharma practice. The symbol of the compassionate wrathful activity is the phurpa, a ritual dagger which stabs the obstacles, thereby subduing and transforming their destructive potential. Vajrakilaya in essence represents our own pure inner nature, that was never stained by the turmoils of mental afflictions. The activity of Vajrakilaya is especially effective in pacifying social conflicts and disturbances, and mending breaches of the tantric samaya, like the breaches of the bonds between Vajrayana practitioners.
24-26.06.2020 Ngondro Retreat (‘preliminary practices’)
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Begins: Friday, 24th June 2020 at 7 PM (dinner starts 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, 26th June 2020 after lunch
Course fee:
150 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
Ngondro is a series of practices for deep purification of the practitioner in preparation for the general Vajrayāna practice, for Mahamudra and for Dzogchen practices. It entails the „Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind“ as common preliminaries, followed by the uncommon preliminaries with going for refuge, prostrations and developing bodhicitta, the Vajrasattva hundred-syllable mantra, mandala offering and guruyoga. Through this practice, karmic hindrances of body, speech and mind stemming from negative deeds are purified that would otherwise block the path to enlightenment.
10-12.07.2020 Milarepa Guruyoga Retreat
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Begins: Friday 10th July at 7 PM (dinner at 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday 12th July after lunch
Course fee:
150 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
Jetsun Milarepa had committed serious crimes in his youth and killed with black magic a large part of his family, and he was seized by a desperate remorse. He was looking for a teacher who could show him the way to get rid of the entanglement of the never-ending cycle of existence, and found him in his teacher Marpa.
Marpa treated Milarepa with unimaginable severity before giving Milarepa the meditation instructions he desired. By unwavering faith in his teacher and the great energy with which he gave himself in his practice, Milarepa succeeded in acquiring enlightenment in one lifetime. He is famous for his spontaneous poetic songs in which he gave expression to his profound teachings.
Prayer of serious commitment by Jetsun Milarepa
Son of the lineage of Lord Naropa’s path of liberation,
please bless this beggar that he stay in mountain retreats.
Do not be swayed by the demon of worldly distractions
but deepen meditative concentration.
Without getting caught in clinging to Shamatas pond
May the flower of Vipashyana blossom
Unaffected and untroubled by stress and tension,
Let the foliage of simplicity unfold.
Without the slightest discord in my Retreat
Let the fruit reach maturity – experience and realization.
With the demons family powerless to hinder it,
may I gain final certainty to understand my mind.
On the way of skillful means, unclouded by doubt
may the son find his way in the footsteps of his father.
Blessed and compassionate, essence of Akshobhya,
please bless this beggar to remain in mountain retreats.
24-26.07.2020 Shine and Lhaktong Retreat
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Begins: Friday 24th July at 7 PM (dinner at 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday 26th July after lunch
Course fee:
150 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
Shine and Lhagtong
Shamatha, or as it is called in Tibetan, Shine, is the most fundamental and indispensible form of meditation in Buddhism.
On the way to recognizing the ‘true nature of mind which is deep, calm, simple and clear’ there have arisen many different contemplative techniques since the time of Shakyamuni Buddha 2500 years ago. But all of them begin with this very basic method for thoroughly quieting the mind and bringing about real tranquility.
The stable foundation provided by Shamatha or tranquility meditation, and the insight into the emptiness of all phenomena gained by Vipashyana, is the basis for all further developments we can achieve in our practices, whether they be Tonglen, Creation and Completion or Mahamudra/Dzogchen.
Indeed it can be said that no progress can be made without these first fundamental techniques of meditation. This is because the practice of Shamatha meditation is the first crucial step in quieting the mind’s tendency to jump from one thought to another, and to reveal the clarity of one’s own mind. Thus, our mind becomes a perfect tool for observing its own nature, enabling us the insight which will finally lead to a profound transformation of our whole being.
28-30.08.2020 Chod Retreat
Course Instructors:
Lama Kunga
Course Schedule:
Begins: Friday August 28th at 7 PM (dinner starts at 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday August 30th after lunch
Course Fee:
150 euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
The practice of Chöd is taught by all Tibetan Buddhist schools. It is an extremely effective method for cutting the tight net of ego fixation that binds us to the endlessly turning wheel of suffering. The key point of this ‘cutting-through practice’ is bringing deluded mind directly to its inherent pure nature, by recognizing it as equivalent to the enlightened state of the ‘Great Mother Prajnaparamita’.
Through training in the method known as ‘Opening the Door to the Sky’ we experience a state beyond duality and intellectualisation synonymous with Mahamudra. Simultaneously we develop limitless, impartial generosity free from ego-clinging.
16-18.10.20 Karma Pakshi Retreat
Course Instructors:
Lama Kunga
Course Schedule:
Begins: Friday October 16th at 7 PM (dinner starts at 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday October 18th after lunch
Course Fee:
150 euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
It is particularly through the profound practice of Guru Yoga that we are able to connect with the power of the Kagyu lineage masters and quickly receive their blessings.
Karma Pakshi [1204-1283] was the second Karmapa, renowned to this day as an embodiment of Vajrayana crazy wisdom and primordial awareness. In celebrating and supplicating him we invoke not only his bright illuminating energy and miraculous powers but through him, the supreme vitality and continuously unfolding presence of Mahamudra itself.
This weekend retreat will present the Guru Yoga practice of Karma Pakshi in its entirety, including instructions and practice of the sadhana and ending with a traditional Ganachakra or ‘great feast.’
26.12.20-01.01.21 Amitabha Retreat with Bardo Puja
Course Instructors:
Lama Kunga
Course Schedule:
Begins: Saturday, December 26th, 2020, at 7 PM (dinner starts at 5:30 PM)
Ends: Friday, January 1st, 2021, after lunch
Course Fee:
240 euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
To spend the time at the turn of the year in a meaningful way for us as well as for others, we will meet again this holiday season for our annual Amitabha Retreat.
Amitabha Buddha is the meditation deity associated with the divine realm of Sukhavati (tib: Dewachen). He is called “Buddha of Limitless Light”, because his activity permeates all clouded states of our being and clears away all suffering.
By doing Amithaba practice – reciting mantras, prayers and practising the sadhana – we can support those who have departed this life on their further path, clear away states of suffering in ourselves and others, and help to create an auspicious compassionate foundation for the coming year. Those of us who have lost someone dear can dedicate the positive merit of the retreat to them, as well as to all other sentient beings.
For those who have passed away in the course of the past year, there will be a special ‘bardo puja’ on the 31st of December. On the morning of New Years Day we will celebrate the beginning of the year with an auspicious ‘Ribosang,’ a smoke offering ritual for happiness and world peace.
If you would like to have deceased persons or animals be included in the prayers and the practice, you can send us the names to include in our list.