12-14.01.2024 Shine and Lhaktong Retreat
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Begins: Friday, January 12th at 7 PM (dinner at 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, January 14th after lunch
Course fee:
180 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (01.01)
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.
04-10.02.24 Great Mahakala Puja and Losar Festivities
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Begins: Sunday, 04th February at 4:30 PM
Ends: Saturday, 10th February after lunch
Course fee:
300 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (02.01)
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 Sunday Feb 4th at 4.30 pm and ends on Feb 8th with the burning of the tuntor and a traditional oracle soup in the evening.
We begin celebrating Losar on Feb 9th 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 Sunday Feb 10th 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 new year.
29.02.-03.03.2024 Nyung Ne Retreat
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Begins: Thursday, February 29th at 7 PM (dinner at 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, March 3rd after lunch
Mahayana vows will be given on Friday morning, 7 AM. Therefore, participants have to arrive on Thursday evening in order to attend the retreat.
Course fee:
210 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (02.02)
The Nyung-Ne practice is a fasting ritual with great purification potential, which is widely practiced in Tibetan Buddhism, also amongst lay practitioners.
This practice of the 1000-armed Avalokitesvara was introduced by Gelongma Palmo. She was born around the 10th century as a princess in an Indian empire located in today’s Kashmir region. Instead of living a life in luxury she decided to become ordained during early adulthood. She studied dharma sincerely and deeply, and therefore her teacher soon appointed her as abbot of a monastic community.
Not long after this, she developed leprosy, which worsened more and more. She lost her fingers and her feet, so she could not hide her condition any longer and was forced to leave her monastic community. Despite of her misfortune, she did not loose her faith in dharma. She was deeply motivated to achieve bodhicitta, and soon she had a vision of the 1000-armed Avalokiteshvara. For many years she performed his practice, which involved fasting and keeping silence, and finally she was cured of her leprosy.
28.03.-01.04.24 Easter Retreat Konchog Chidu – Guru Rinpoche Practice
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Starts: Thursday March 28th at 7 PM (dinner at 5:30 PM)
Ends: Monday April 1st after lunch
Course fee:
250 Euro [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (03.01)
The Guru Rinpoche Practice „Konchog Chidu“ („The Essence of the Three Jewels„), is a Terma text (treasure text) discovered by the great Terton (treasure finder) Rigdzin Jatson Nyingpo. It has extraordinary power to remove any kind of hindrance.
The special blessing of this sadhana is described in the „Prayer which Radiates the Light of Blessing„, a prayer of devotion to Guru Rinpoche:
„… However – in this degenerate time (these teachings) are a jewel that is poised on the head of a poisonous snake. If I, in these unclear and dark times, make a heartfelt promise with strong longing that stirs the depths of the vajra samaya of the deities of the Three Jewels and the Three Roots, then the extraordinary power of the Lamas – the Holders of the Three Kinds of Transmission, the Yidams and the multitude of the Dakinis, and the ocean of Dharma protectors, as well as through the power of the unchangeable, the truth, the nature and independence of phenomena – will allow the richness of the essential teachings to shine brightly, as the sun and moon bring light into the darkness, and bring to an end the darkening of unjustified attacks. May their victory secure this tradition of deep truth!
The excellent tradition, transmitted by Orgyen Rinpoche and the wisdom holders, has power over the three worlds and subdues the three kinds of existence. It is universally victorious and transgresses all appearances of phenomena. May it spread everywhere!“
19-21.04.24 Milarepa Guruyoga
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Starts: Friday April 19th at 7 PM (dinner at 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday April 21st after lunch
Course fee:
180 Euro [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (04.01)
Guru Yoga is one of the most profound and transformative devotional practices in Vajrayana Buddhism. This centuries-old practice not only develops and increases devotion to our guru, but also literally ‘mixes’ our mind with that of the enlightened mind of our teacher.
The renowned Tibetan yogi and poet Jetsun Milarepa provides us with an example of the extraordinary power of the stream of blessings caused by the devotion to the guru. In his youth Milarepa committed murderous evil deeds and practiced black magic before undergoing deep remorse and a desire for repentance. His subsequent lifelong devotion to his teacher Marpa helped give him the strength and ability to achieve enlightenment in one lifetime.
Milarepa is not only an extraordinary example of discipline in the practice of meditation, but his profound and poetic teachings demonstrate the unshakable link between the power of devotion in the student and the grace of compassion in the teacher. This link is made manifest in the practice of Guru Yoga.
02.05.24 Khenpo Karma Lhabu – Why we should do retreat
Course Instructor:
Khenpo Karma Lhabu
Course schedule:
Starts: Thursday May 2nd at 7 PM (dinner at 5:30 PM)
Course fee:
30 Euro [includes dinner]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (05.01)
Drupon Khen Rinpoche Karma Lhabu (b. 1969) started his education at the age of seven years in the Tsabtsa monastery in Eastern Tibet. With 14 he received his novice ordination. At the age of 17 he was filled with deep renunciation for mundane preoccupations of everyday life and decided to go into retreat. He was allowed to enter into retreat with 18 years, when the next cycle of retreat would start, but he was not willing to wait and started his retreat already in a small hut near the retreat center. He received teachings for his retreat from Karma Sherab and Lama Senge, both of which were exceptional yogis who spend decades in solitary retreats in the mountains. Lama Senge became his root lama, und soon he developed meditative understanding, experience and realizations. Finally he was appointed retreat master for the next retreat cycle.
After his lamas had passed into nirvana, Rinpoche received teachings from the Venerable Khenpo Jigme Puntsok Rinpoche, from the dzogchen master Khenpo Munsel, from the highly learned Khenpo Pentse, from Adzom Drukpa Rinpoche, from the Milarepa-like Khenpo Choying Kunkhyab, from Khenchen Tsultrim Lodro, from Khenchen Chime Rigzin and from Khenchen Sherab Zangpo, to name only a few.
Having received such a wealth of teachings Rinpoche then went to Thrangu Vajra Vidya Institute in Varanasi, were he gave teachings to the shedra students. Finally Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche appointed him as retreat master for the Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Center, which was newly built at a Milarepa pilgrimage site near Bhaktapur, Nepal. He has also taught in the Thrangu Monastery Shedra and in the nunnery Thrangu Tara Abbey.
03-05.05.2024 Ngondro – Preliminary Practices
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Begins: Friday, May 3d at 7 PM (dinner starts 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, May 5th after lunch
Course fee:
180 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (05.02)
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.
09-12.05.24 Amitabha Retreat with Bardo Puja for Chinese Sangha
The course is open to everybody who already knows the Amitabha practice, but teachings will only be in Chinese!
Course Instructors:
Lama Kunga
Course Schedule:
Begins: Thursday, May 9th, at 7 PM (dinner starts at 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, May 12th, after lunch
Course Fee:
210 euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (05.03)
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.
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.
28-30.06.24 Ringu Tulku Rinpoche – The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva – Part 2
Course Instructor:
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Course schedule:
Begins: Friday, June 28th, at 7 PM (dinner starts 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, June 30th, after lunch
Course fee:
250 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (06.02)
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche was born in Kham in Eastern Tibet in 1952. Due to the Chinese invasion, he was forced already as a small child to leave his home country. He received his education under the tutelage of H.H. the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa and of H.H. Dhilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Later on, he studied at the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology in Sikkim as well as at the Sanskrit University in Varanasi, India. He was the first Kagyu lama to receive the Acharya title at the Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies in Varanasi. In the following course, H.H. the 16th Karmapa awarded him the Khenpo title, and he also received the Lopon Chenpo title (corresponding to PhD) from the International Nyingma Society.
For 25 years he then served as a Professor for Tibetan Studies and as a textbook writer in Sikkim. Since 1990, he undertakes extensive travels all over the world, giving teachings and empowerments. H.H. the 17th Karmapa appointed Ringu Tulku Rinpoche as his representative for Europe. His profound knowledge combined with his deep understanding of the Western World make him into one of the most important mediator for Tibetan Buddhism in the West.
07-14.07.24 Buddhist Meditation for Beginners – An Introduction to the Tibetan „Shine“ Mediation
Course Instructors:
Lama Kunga
Course Schedule:
Begins: Sunday, July 7th, at 7 PM (dinner starts at 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, July 14th, after lunch
Course Fee:
325 euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (07.01)
Shine in Tibetan means „calm abiding“. It is a meditation technique, which aims at the development of concentration and stability of mind. In essence it calms the mind by concentrating on a specific object of meditation, in many cases just the breath. Through continous practice obstacles like restlessness, distraction and inner turbulences can be overcome, leading to a feeling of tranquility and clarity.
Regular practice of the shine meditation has many advantages for body and mind:
- Through calming the mind stress and tension can be reduced
- The ability to focus the mind and to reduce the distractive thoughts improves the ability to concentrate oneself
- Shine meditation can help to better regulate emotions like fear, anger and restlessness
- Through the conscious observation of the breath our mindfulness is trained, leading to a deeper understanding of the present moment
The Tibetan shine meditation presents a powerful way to calm the mind, develop clarity and experience inner peace. When we take time for regular practice, we can leave the rush of our modern life behind us and reach a state of inner calmness. No matter whether you are a beginner or an experienced practitioner, shine meditation invites you to explore your own inner world und to start your spiritual journey.
19-21.07.2024 Shine and Lhaktong Retreat
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Begins: Friday, July 19th at 7 PM (dinner at 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, July 21st after lunch
Course fee:
180 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (07.02)
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.
02-04.08.24 Khenpo Kalsang Nyima Rinpoche – Keeping Mental Stability in Everyday Life
Course Instructor:
Khenpo Kalsang Nyima Rinpoche
Course schedule:
Begins: Friday, August 2nd at 7 PM (dinner at 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, August 4th after lunch
Course fee:
300 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (08.01)
Keeping Mental Stability in Everyday Life
Buddhist practice helps us to develop a clear mind and inner joy, to calm our emotions and perceive our own body. Unfortunately, in everyday life we often quickly loose these achievements of our meditative practice on the cushion, because obstacles come up and our problems and distractions of daily life bring us out of balance. We can we achieve to keep the inner calmness and joy despite of these challenges, we can we stay centered instead of always loosing our inner equipoise? Khenpo Kalsang Nyima Rinpoche will draw from the rich experience of Tibetan Buddhism to show us a way to avoid the breach between everyday life and our meditation on the cushion.
The Venerable Khenpo Kalsang Nyima Rinpoche is a highly respected master within the Karma Kagyu lineage. He is the director of the shedra in Rumtek, the Karma Shri Nalanda Institute of Higher Studies, which is the main seat of H.H. the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje. In addition, he was appointed the highest-ranking discipline master at the International Kagyu Monlam in Bodhgaya, India, and therefore he is already familiar to participants of the Monlam.
Khenpo Nyima received is ordination vows at the age of 17 and started his education in buddhist rituals in the monastery. He performed a Three-Year-Retreat in the retreat center at the Gochey monastery. In the further course he studied for nine years at the Dzongsar Insitute of Higher Buddhist Studies in India, acquiring the title of a Khenpo. Following this, he taught for two years at the Institute und also served as discipline master there. In the year 2004 he was appointed to teach at the Karma Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Studies by H.E. Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche. In 2007 he became the leader of the Institute, in 2016 he was appointed its director. Since the year 2004 he also serves as the highest-ranking discipline master at the Kagyu Monlam.
He is known for his deep compassion, his humor and his practical approach. His students appreciate his ability to explain complex subjects in a very simple and practical way.
09-11.08.24 Gonkar – White Mahakala
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga
Course schedule:
Begins: Friday, August 09th at 7 PM (dinner at 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, August 11th after lunch
Course fee:
180 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (08.02)
Gonkar, the white Mahakala, is a wrathful emanation of the bodhisattva Chenrezig, the personificiation of the compassion of all buddhas. His compassionate activity destroys all obstacles for our spiritual practice, like a lack of support, and magnetizes material as well as spiritual richness. Gonkar can influence the domain of family, material possessions, sustenance, power, but also wisdom and spirituality.
Especially in times like ours which are dominated by wars and pandemic diseases, our world is endangered by severe material losses, famine, disinformation or the incapability of making sense of a flood of information, violent reinforcement of egoistic tendencies, breaking up of family relationships or friendships. All these tendencies can be counteracted by the compassionate activity of the White Mahakala and we can pray for his support to purify our obstacles and to increase life-sustaining conditions.
The practice of the White Mahakala was introduced in Tibet in the 11th century by Khedrub Khyungpo Naljor, the founder of the Shangpa Kagyu tradition. It is the main protector practice of the Shangpa Kagyu lineage.
30.08-01.09.2022 Torma and Instrument Workshop
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Starts: Friday, August 30th, at 7 PM (dinner starts 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, September 1st, after lunch
Course fee:
180 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (08.03)
In this workshop we will learn to make the tormas that we need for our daily practice of Green Tara and Mahakala here in Halscheid. These tormas are basic forms that are also used in other Vajrayana practices. In this course we are able to become creative and do something practical, which can make a lot of fun in the group, and at the same time we train ourselves in a practice, which can remove obstacles on our way to enlightenment.
The practice of torma making and offering is a possibility to accumulate merit – merit through generosity. There are many different forms of tormas. The outer tormas, which consist of a dough made of barley flour, butter and water, are only one form of tormas. There are no special requirements needed, everybody can join. It is not important that the torma is outwardly perfect, the inner motivation during the torma making and offering are the crucial point.
If we want to understand the function of tormas in the Vajrayana ritual, we have to first look at the meaning of the word itself. The word consists of the Tibetan word „tor“, which means „to through, to disperse“. „Ma“ then is a female word ending, it is the word for „mother“. It indicates the inner attitude with which we should offer a torma – with a motherly, nourishing attitude. In contrast, the Sanskrit word for torma is „balingta“, „baling“ meaning power, ability, potential. It indicates that the offering of tormas can result in realizations – for the one performing the offering, but also for the one who receives the offering.
Outwardly tormas are offered to different kinds of beings, i.e. to enlightened beings out of thankfullness and veneration, or to obstacles makers for pacification. Inwardly, the offering of tormas aims at cutting our attachment to all desirables and to let go of our negative emotions – these are the true obstacles, which block our way to enlightenment.
20-22.09.24 Tulku Damcho Rinpoche – Teachings on the 12 Links of Dependend Origination and Empowerment in Mahakala and Simhamukha
Course Instructor:
Tulku Damcho Rinpoche
Course schedule:
Starts: Friday, September 20th, at 7 PM (dinner starts 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, September 22nd, after lunch
Course fee:
300 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (09.01)
Tulku Damcho Rinpoche was recognized as the reincarnation of the great master Lama Tsoknyi by His Eminence Tai Situ Rinpoche. At that time he had already lived several years as a monk in the Thrangu Tashi Choling monastery in Kathmandu.
His previous incarnation, Lama Tsoknyi, was an outstanding master of the Thrangu Tashi Choling monastery in Tibet in the time preceding the Chinese invasion. Already in his childhood his natural spirituality became evident. With great devotion he practized 2000 Nyungnes, a special practice of the Thousand-armed Chenrezig. Through this intense practice he gained extraordinary experiences and realizations. He founded new retreat places, renovated old temples and served the dharma with manifold activities.
After his death he was reborn in Nubri in Northern Nepal. From early on he wished to receive the monks vows. After the Thrangu Tashi Choling monastery was established in Kathmandu/Nepal, he insisted to become a monk there. Then, after spending several years as a monk there, he was finally recognized and inthroned as Tulku Damcho.
He was outstanding in his studies and his conduct, and completed the shedra with excellence. A traditional 3-year retreat and a one year Kalachakra retreat followed, which ended in 2007. Asked by Thrangu Rinpoche, he now travels to Karma Kagyu centers all over the world to give teachings and empowerments on a yearly basis.
03-06.10.24 Chod Retreat
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Starts: Thursday, October 3rd, at 7 PM (dinner starts 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, October 6th, after lunch
Course fee:
275 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (10.01)
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.
18-20.10.24 Green Tara – Protectress from Fears
Course Instructor:
Lama Kunga Dorje
Course schedule:
Starts: Friday, October 18th, at 7 PM (dinner starts 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, October 20th, after lunch
Course fee:
180 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (10.02)
The Tibetan name for Tara, Drölma, literally means savioress, protectress. The activity of Green Tara protects and frees us from our fears, fears of outer dangers as well as the corresponding mental afflictions that bind us to the sufferings of cyclic existence. She is said to be very swift in her activity, like a loving mother who cannot bear the cry of her suffering child, she will immediately come for our aid. Her 21 emanations represent different aspects of her enlightened activity.
Perhaps one of the most well known and beloved of tantric deities, her practice is common to all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Like here in Halscheid, Green Tara is part of the daily practices at countless monasteries and centers around the world.
15-17.11.24 Karma Pakshi Guruyoga
Course Instructor:
Ani Evelin
Course schedule:
Starts: Friday, November 15th, at 7 PM (dinner starts 5:30 PM)
Ends: Sunday, November 17th, after lunch
Course fee:
180 Euros [includes all meals and accommodation]
For bank transfers please state name of participant and course number (11.01)
On the path of Vajrayana the practice of Guru Yoga is considered as an immensly important method to connect with the power of the transmission lineage of our Kagyu lineage masters and quickly receive their blessings. Without that blessing and their inspiration progress on the path is very doutful.
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.’