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Event 

Kopan West: Buddhism 101 with Geshe Gelek
Title:
Kopan West: Buddhism 101 with Geshe Gelek
When:
November 09, 2012 - November 18, 2012 
Category:
Upcoming Events

Description

Register-Now-NA
Category: Course
Level of retreat: All levels
Level of silence: Partial
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Retreat Overview

  • Receive a well rounded introduction to Tibetan Buddhism
  • Study the timeless teachings highly praised by H.H. The Dalai Lama – the Lam Rim Chen Mo - The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment
  • Apply these classic teachings to your modern life to discover a greater sense of peace, meaning, contentment and fulfillment

hhdlprayer

We are delighted to welcome Kadampa Center's beloved resident teacher Geshe Gelek to lead a retreat at Varjapani for the first time. Kopan West is an annual tradition in the U.S. that started in 1999 at Vajrapani Institute. It is a ten-day residential lam-rim retreat that combines teachings, discussions, and guided meditations.

Lam-rim is a Tibetan Buddhist text which presents the complete path to enlightenment, as taught by Buddha, therefore, this is an ideal retreat for beginners and well experienced practitioners because it is a review of all Buddha’s teachings to attain enlightenment.

In Tibetan Buddhist history there have been many different versions of the lam-rim. However, all the versions of the lam-rim are based on extensions of Atisha's 11th Century root text A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment.  Tsonkhapa (1357-1419) made a famous commentary on Atisha’s text, called Lam Rim Chen Mo. Then, Pabongka Rinpoche (1878-1941) made another famous commentary on Tsonkhapa’s text called Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand.

This retreat gave me the tools and conceptual framework to bring Buddhist practice back home and make it a part of my everyday life.”  ―Cedric, retreater at Kopan West 2008.

Teacher Bio


GesheGelek5

Geshe Gelek Chodha is Kadampa Center's beloved resident teacher since 1999. Geshe-la was born in Sikkim, the oldest of five children. At the age of seven, Geshe-la went south to live at Sera Jey monastery and become a monk. He achieved the degree of Geshe Lharampa in 1997, continuing on to the Gyume Tantric College to learn the intricacies of tantric rituals. 

At the suggestion of his classmate, Yangsi Rinpoche, Geshe-la was requested by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to go to North Carolina to be Kadampa Center's new resident teacher. Since his arrival in 1999, Geshe-la charmed local students with his sincerity, humor, and patience.

 

Fees

To ensure maximum convenience and that  most of your money goes to Vajrapani Institute,  we encourage payment of deposits by CC and balance payments via Check or Cash on arrival. Small third-party processing fee’s apply for CC transactions.

 

Camping

Kopan West - Buddhism 101

November 9-18

 

 

Nights:

9

 

 

 

Fees (inclusive of accommodation, meals, retreat fees)

Non-Member

Member

10%

$692.05 $623.20

Main Dormitory

$854.05

$769.00

Semi-Private Dormitory

$975.55

$878.00

 

 

Private Room

$1,380.55

$1,242.85

Private Room SHARE OPTION

$810.00

$729.00

Cabin

$1,542.55

$1,388.65

Cabin SHARE OPTION

$850.50

$765.45

Preview Accommodations

Financial Aid is Available!

See our FAQ for full Registration Policies.

Schedule

 

November   9

 

 

 

3:00- 5:00 pm

Registration

 

5:15- 5:45pm

Working meditation orientation

 

6:00-6:30pm

Dinner

7:00pm

7:30pm

Orientation session (in the gompa)

Introductory session

 

 

 

November

7:00 – 8:00 am

Intro. to Meditation followed by Mindfulness Practice

10 to 17

8:00 – 8:30 am

Breakfast

 

9.00 - 12.30pm

Two sessions of combined teaching and meditation, approx. 1 ¼ hours with a tea break in between

 

12.30 – 2:30 pm

Lunch

 

2:30 – 3:30pm

Discussion group with assigned questions

 

3.30pm

Tea

 

4:00 – 6:00pm

Approx. ½ hour review of discussion groups, followed by 
1 ½ hour teaching and meditation

 

6:00 pm

Dinner

 

7:30pm

Evening meditation session: purification with the four opponent powers (Vajrasattva practice)

 

 

 

November  18

7:00 – 8:00am

Mindfulness Practice

 

8:00 – 8:30am

8:30 -- 9:30 am

Breakfast

Clear out all belongings from accommodations

 

 

9.30 --12:30pm

Two sessions of combined teaching and meditation, approx. 1 ¼ hours with a tea break in between. Dedications

 

12.30-1:15pm

1:15-2pm

2pm

Lunch

Karma Yogi: final group cleaning (all to participate please)

Retreat ends

 

Suggested Reading

grtr

 

The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Lam rim chen mo) is one of the brightest jewels in the world's treasury of sacred literature. The author, Tsong-kha-pa (1357-1419),, completed this masterpiece in 1402 and it soon became one of the most renowned works of spiritual practice and philosophy in the world of Tibetan Buddhism. Tsong-kha-pa took great pains to base his incisive insights on the classical Indian Buddhist literature, illustrating his points with classical citations as well as with sayings of the masters of the earlier Kadampa tradition. In this way the text demonstrates clearly how Tibetan Buddhism carefully preserved and developed the Indian Buddhist traditions.