Gaden Choling Mahayana Buddhist Meditation Centre

We happily invite you to some wonderful teachings by Miya Shimada at Gaden Choling in August. Miya is travelling to Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Seattle to offer special teachings on Foundation Practices, Chöd, and Vajrayogini. Rinpoche requested that she teach at Gaden Choling, and we are fortunate that she will be with us from Friday, August 13 to Sunday, August 22. Her schedule is provided below along with a short description of each teaching.

The first Friday to Sunday teachings on foundation practices are open to anyone, as is the final Saturday evening Chöd Healing Ceremony, but the other teachings and practices (Vajrayogini, Chöd and Chöd Tsog) require that you have received an initiation into these practices previously. NOTE: Except Thursday night, which is open to all people with any highest yoga tantra initiation.

The suggested donation for each weekday event is $10 for members/$15 non-members, and for each weekend event $20/25. There will also be a dana box out for those wishing to make an offering to Miya for coming to generously share her wisdom and experience with these precious practices.

We hope to see you at Miya's teachings in August!

Schedule

August
13 (Fri) 7pm – Intro to the Foundation Practices with Lam Rim (Open to all)
14 (Sat) to 15 (Sun) 10am-5pm – Foundation Practices: Refuge/Bodhicitta, Vajrasattva, Prostration, Guru Yoga, and Mandala (Open to all)
16 (Mon) 7pm – Intro to Vajrayogini (prior initiation required)
17 (Tue) 7pm – Vajrayogini
18 (Wed) 7pm – Vajrayogini
19 (Thu) 7pm – Intro to Chöd / Chöd Tsog Night! (Open to people with any highest yoga tantra initiation)
20 (Fri) 7pm – Chöd Practice
21 (Sat) to 22 (Sun) 10am-5pm – Chöd Tsog in conjunction with Vajrayogini
21 (Sat evening) 7-9pm – Chöd Healing Ceremony (Open to all)

The Foundation Practice

The Preliminary Practices make up the foundation for any level of Dharma practice. "No realization comes without a solid foundation of the Preliminary practices." The Buddhist path is like building a pyramid of realizations. The Preliminaries have been emphasized as essential to the preparation of the mind for the next building block within all the Tibetan Buddhist traditions. There are various ways to classify and areas to practice depending on the contexts. For example there are the seven-limb practices, Lam-rim or the common paths in daily practice. There are the accumulations and purification in general, or specific practices like Mahamudra and lastly prerequisites (Ngon-dro) to a great retreat.

In this retreat we will explore the practical aspects of specific foundation practices and actually put them into practice by using the Lama Tsongkhapa guru yoga text Ganden Lhagyama in each session.

— Introduction (Friday night)
— Refuge/Bodhicitta (Saturday morning)
— Vajrasattva/Prostration (Saturday afternoon)
— Guru yoga (Sunday morning)
— Mandala (Sunday afternoon)

Introduction to Chöd

• Chöd Tsog in conjunction with Vajrayogini

This weekend retreat introduces the Chöd Tsog in conjunction with Vajrayogini. Why? As mother tantra initiates, we have a commitment to perform Tsog twice a month. This text has been used especially by those who practice both Chöd and Vajrayogini. This text includes all the elements of the Chöd Tsog text composed by Song Rinpoche. Furthermore many beautiful practices (including invoking Vajrayogini’s special blessings etc.) are added to this text. This is open to all with any Chöd initiation and Mother Tantra (Heruka or Vajrayogini) initiation. The text will be available at the center.

• Vajrayogini

This teaching and meditation retreat on Vajrayogini is intended for both those who have recently taken the Vajrayogini initiation from Zasep Rinpoche and those who have been practicing this yidam for some time. This retreat will be mainly based on so-called “practical instruction” or “experiential commentary” (nyam tri) among several traditional ways to introduce teaching.

Retreat leader, Miya Shimada

Miya has been a senior student of Khalkha Jetsun Dampa for 18 years and a long-term student-friend of Zasep Rinpoche. She lived in India for many years and studied Buddhism under many Tibetan teachers in the 70’s and 80’s and has completed a number of personal retreats.