Kālachakra Study & Practice Intensive

For the first time ever, Robert Thurman is offering a special Kālachakra Tantra study and practice intensive this July, for all those who have participated in a Kālachakra Initiation with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, taking the requisite lay, bodhisattva, and tantric vows, and who are interested in deepening their understanding and practice of the Kālachakra Tantra. Thurman has attended over a dozen Kālachakra initiations and has led small groups through the complex initiation process conferred by the Dalai Lama, shedding light on its underlying philosophy and its complex symbolism.

Having been preserved for centuries in the fabled kingdom of Shambhala, the Kālachakra Tantra is an Unexcelled Yoga Tantra system of teachings which is believed to originate directly from Shakyamuni Buddha and which revolves around the concept of cycles (chakra) of time (kāla), from the cycles of the planets and the outer world to the cycles of human breathing and our physical-spiritual development. It teaches the practice of working with the most subtle energies within one’s mind and body on the path to enlightenment, through famously complex deity yoga which helps practitioners with a basic understanding of emptiness dissolve their ordinary sense of self and re-create themselves in the ideal form of the Kālachakra deity pair in union who represent omniscient Buddhahood–the union of great bliss and the wisdom perceiving emptiness. Since Kālachakra is created of time and everything manifest is under the influence of time, Kālachakra Buddha is experiential knowledge of all manifest reality. Vishvamata, his spiritual consort and complement, is aware of all that is timeless, not time-bound, or out of the realm of time. In yab-yum union, they are temporality and atemporality conjoined and represent the full glory of the ultimate nature of reality, compassionately abiding in a vast multidimensional mandala rich with symbolic meaning.

In this first Kālachakra retreat, we will work in several sessions a day with a short traditional Kalachakra sadhana, used by Tibetan monks, as the focus of our daily practice sessions, incorporating time for extensive mantra accumulation. Dr. Thurman will focus discussion and contemplation-based lectures on unpacking the Initiation Chapter of the Abridged Kalachakra Tantra, with detailed textual study to enrich our remembrance of our experience of the initiation and of entering the mandala and beholding Kalachakra-Vishvamata. Afternoons will include break time for optional yoga classes, spa treatments, nature walks, and further conversation among fellow students. The retreat will conclude with an instructional fire puja. Bring your own vajra, bell, damaru, and inner offering vessel (ritual skullcup).

Join us in the breathtaking hidden mountain valley of Tibet House’s Menla retreat and spa, for this special intensive, a personally transformative and very inspiring retreat intended to help initiates, from total novices to more advanced practitioners, deepen their connection to, their understanding of, and ultimately their embodiment of the magnificent reality of Kālachakra-Vishvamata.

Sunday July 23rd

3 – 8pm Check-In
6 – 7pm Dinner (Semi-circular Dining Room at Lhasa Inn)
8pm Thurmans’ 50^th Anniversary Celebration

Monday July 24th

6:30 – 8am Yoga with Michele (Conf Center Main Hall)
8 – 9am Breakfast
10am Welcome & Intro to the Sadhana Practice (Conf Center Main Hall)
12 – 1pm Lunch
1 – 2pm Free time (Spa, Hiking, etc)
2 – 6pm Discussion, Textual Study, & Mantra Recitation
6 – 7pm Dinner
7:15pm Sadhana Practice & Mantra Recitation

Tuesday July 25th

6:30 – 8am Sadhana Practice
8 – 9am Breakfast
9:15 – 10:15am Mantra Recitation
10:30am – 12pm Textual Study and Discussion of Initiation Chapter or Sadhana Practice
12 – 1pm Lunch
1 – 4pm Free time (Spa, Hiking, etc)
1:15 – 2:15pm Optional Student Discussion Group with Q&A (led by Michael & Kim)
2:30 – 3:30pm Optional Yoga
4 – 6pm Textual Study of Initiation Chapter
6 – 7pm Dinner
7:15pm Sadhana Practice & Mantra Recitation

Wednesday July 26th

6:30 – 8am Sadhana Practice
8 – 9am Breakfast
9:15 – 10:15am Mantra Recitation
10:30am – 12pm Textual Study and Closing Discussion
12 – 1pm Lunch & Check-out
1:30 – 3:30pm Closing Fire Puja

Note: Schedule is subject to change at anytime