“Supreme fruition is without hope and fear.”
~ Machig Labdrön
In this retreat, you will receive teachings from the Chöd lineage and engage in daily Chöd practice. There will be a special virtual teaching session with Lama Tsultrim Allione. (And there is a possibility that Lama Tsultrim will join us in person!) Other teachers will give dharma talks in person. We will focus our group practice on the Chöd of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche in the evenings, and will have opportunities to include the practice of Dentog Chigma Chöd for those who are familiar and have received the transmission.
We will gather as a group for morning Prajnaparamita practice on our beloved Prayer Flag Ridge and each evening we will close the day in the main shrine room for Chöd practice. As a special highlight, there will be an optional overnight wilderness stay in the Kapala meadow, for those wishing to explore or even launch the start of their own personal experience of the Chöd Dulzhug Pilgrimage. Our morning and afternoon teaching sessions will include breakout groups for specific discussions, integrative Magyu practices (such as Feeding Your Demons®), instrument mastery workshops as well as special dharma talks to deepen our understanding and connection to our Chöd lineages.
For those who would like to apply for Magyu, this is an opportunity. Upon being accepted into Magyu, you will be able to register and attend the Magyu Biennial Gathering retreat in August.
For more about Magyu and to apply, click here »
MACHIG LABDRÖN
The 11th Century Tibetan Yogini
“As long as there is an ego, there are demons. When there is no more ego, there are no more demons either! If there is no ego, there is no more object to cut through …”
Machig’s teachings and practices of Chöd (literally “severance” or “cutting through”) have profoundly influenced all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. She was unique in being both a woman and Tibetan, diverging from the traditional norm of male, Indian Buddhist masters. Her life is an inspiring story of a committed practitioner, at-times beggar woman, brilliant teacher, mother and lineage founder.
Read a brief biography of Machig Labdrön, by Dorje Lopön Charlotte. Click here »
ABOUT THE TEACHERS
Lama Tsultrim Allione
Lama Tsultrim Allione is the bestselling author of Women of Wisdom (1984), Feeding Your Demons (2008), and Wisdom Rising Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine (2018). Lama Tsultrim is the founder of Tara Mandala, a 700-acre retreat center with the three-story temple and library dedicated to the divine feminine in the Buddhist tradition near Pagosa Springs, in southwest Colorado. She leads a vibrant international community with over forty groups around the world. Born in New England, she traveled to Asia in her late teens and in 1970 at the age of 22 in Bodhgaya, India she became the first American to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun … Read more »
Magyu Dorje Lopön Charlotte Z. Rotterdam
Magyu Dorje Lopön Charlotte Z. Rotterdam has studied Tibetan Buddhism for the last 20 years, was authorized to teach by Lama Tsultrim Allione in 2006, and received the title of Magyu Lopön, lead teacher of Magyu: The Mother Lineage at Tara Mandala from Lama Tsultrim in 2016. Lopön Charlotte teaches in the US and abroad, often in partnership with her husband Lopön Pieter Oosthuizen, and co-leads the Boulder Tara Mandala Sangha. Lopön Charlotte received a Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School where she studied comparative religion … Read more »
Lopön Karla Jackson-Brewer
Lopön Karla Jackson-Brewer, M.S., Tara Mandala Senior Teacher, has been practicing Chöd for 31 years and has assisted Lama Tsultrim on many Chöd retreats. She has co-taught Chöd since 2013 with Lama Tsultrim and Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton. She has also taught and led Chöd Practices for the NYC Tara Mandala Sangha which she leads. In October 2012, she received the Chöd Empowerment from His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley Dorje. She leads a monthly BBIPOC meditation practice for Tara Mandala … Read more »
May we cherish this time together in honor of the Mother lineage.
~With Blessings,
Tara Mandala
