Opening the Manjushri Retreat Center
Starting November 2018: retreat for everyone Be Among The FirstKagyu Yogi Academy
Karma Kagyu Three-Year-Three-Month Retreat
for
Lay Practitioners
with
Dupseng Rinpoche
The First Event: November 22 – 28, 2018
Manjushri Retreat Center invites all students who wish to enroll in the 3y3m program for lay practitioners to apply now if they can and would like to join the first-ever event for this program held at Manjushri Retreat Center in Thailand from November 22-28.
There will be two groups starting at this time with a maximum of 40 slots available.
One group will be starting at the very beginning of the process with the preliminary practices, the other group (to be comprised of students who have completed the preliminaries,) will most likely begin with a guru yoga (this is not the guru yoga of Ngondro). Rinpoche will determine the details at the beginning of the course.
If you
- haven’t started your preliminaries (or haven’t gotten anywhere with it, really, so far),
or if you
- have completed your preliminaries but haven’t received the next level of teachings and practices
this event is for you... (click to read more)
If you aren’t sure whether you can join the Thailand event (or if it fits your personal practice situation) but would definitely like to enroll in the 3y3m program as a whole, kindly also apply now and Rinpoche will advise how to best proceed. Future events within the framework of this program will be scheduled along Rinpoche’s travels in Europe and Asia as well as at Manjushri Retreat Center in Thailand.
The traditional Kagyu 3y3m retreat entails some 47 practices and while the monks and nuns in the traditional retreats go through all practices because they need to be able to perform all traditional practices and ceremonies as well as give transmissions, etc., for the personal development focusing on an essential selection of these practices is not just sufficient but recommended.
Generalized, the building blocks are
- preliminaries (mandatory complete)
- lojong
- shamatha/vipashyana
- one altogether or one each of the following
- guru yoga
- yidam
- dharma protector
- one (or more) of the six yogas of Naropa
- mahamudra
The exact path for each of the participants of this new program will vary depending on personal conditions and development and will be closely guided by Rinpoche.
Personal retreats of any length to work through this program are possible at Manjushri Retreat Center, Thailand, and Karma Shedrup Choling, Denmark, and at KIBS and JCM, Nepal. Participants are encouraged to plan as much time for retreats as their lives allow, and especially book retreat time following the event or events with Rinpoche you attend, whether Rinpoche will be physically present at your planned retreat or not.
If capacity allows others will be able to join this week, however, priority will be given to those who enroll for the 3y3m program, and among those again for practitioners who can already commit to a retreat time during the following three months.
The linked .pdf contains all the information above, the form, and the FAQs. Please fill and send the form to rinpoche@dupseng.org.
More Questions? Here are the FAQs...
What is the schedule?
There is no fixed schedule. You start whenever conditions come together. This can happen whenever there is a retreat like the one Nov 22-28 in Thailand and its program fits your situation, i.e., you haven’t completed your Ngondro yet or you have but haven’t progressed much beyond that. Or it can happen along any event with Rinpoche.
Most probably there will be courses once or twice a year. Subject to change depending on Rinpoche’s availability. You start whenever conditions come together.
How long is it going to take?
It depends on your practice level.
You progress along the traditional 3y3m retreat framework as adapted to lay practitioners by Rinpoche according to your personal progress. Maybe you need only a few months retreat for each of the steps. Maybe you need a few years for each, practicing in shorter retreats interspersed with practice during your daily life.
The good news is, you can progress through and complete the retreat program based on your individual situation.
The also good news is, there’s no fixed schedule or time frame you have to follow.
When is the next event?
The next event dedicated to the 3y3m retreat program isn’t scheduled yet. However, if you have conditions to join the BYOP retreat at KIBS in December and you apply for the 3y3m retreat, maybe conditions will come together that Rinpoche will accept you to start your personal journey during that week.
The next event dedicated to the 3y3m retreat program isn’t scheduled yet. Most probably it will happen between spring and summer next year. However, if you have conditions to join the BYOP retreat at KIBS in December 2018 and you apply for the 3y3m retreat, maybe conditions will come together that Rinpoche will accept you to start your personal journey during that week.
Further events will be announced as they are scheduled alongside Rinpoche’s annual schedule.
Will there be an event in Europe? When will it start in Denmark?
Yes, definitely, and more than one. Likely during Rinpoche’s visit to Europe next year. Stay tuned for the announcement of the schedule on here or on dupseng.org.
Should I apply even if I cannot join a particular event?
Absolutely. If you want to join the program, apply. If you can’t join a particular event, please note that in your application form or attachment or the email you send it with, and we’ll be able to consider you when future events are planned.
Are there any costs?
Only the costs for food and accommodation during your retreats, both group retreats with Rinpoche or single retreats. There is no teaching fee for the program so you can offer as your wish to Rinpoche.
Can I get a single room?
Depends. Only if space allows. At Manjushri in Thailand we are currently limited to 20 rooms, which means 40 participants. KIBS is similarly tight. If there are fewer eligible applicants than available places, single occupancy can be considered.
Can I stay for retreat at the center after the course?
Yes, it is possible to arrange.
Please mention that in your application or email. Currently the center isn’t fully operational yet, so conditions for personal retreat may need to be created (if a sufficient number of retreatants apply for personal retreat at the same time), or it may be possible that conditions won’t be quite perfect for the time being, e.g., it may be necessary for the retreatants to help prepare food etc.. The situation is fluid and will certainly change, so please ask and we will see what we can do.
May all be auspicious! Sarwa mangalam!
Manjushri Retreat Center, Thailand – Vajrayana Retreat for Everyone
“Our aim is to make the deepest and most precious practice experiences of our lineage available to more practitioners than ever before.”
The retreat center is part of Manjushri Fellowship – One Buddhist Family, and follows and actualises our vision of fostering true Buddhist practice beyond the boundaries of vehicles, schools, or lineages.
For many years... (click to continue reading)
For many years lay students have been yearning and requesting to do retreats and deepen their practice along the most profound curriculum within the constraints of normal lives. Deeply inspired by the Rinpoches’ joy and enthusiasm, Dharma brothers and sisters have been asking again and again, “would it be possible to work our way through the three-year-retreat curriculum in bits and pieces without having to do three years in one go? Even if it takes two or three times that long it would be so wonderful, and we just don’t have the conditions to join the three-year retreat.”
The wish and aspiration to practice in retreat is strong and widespread. Conditions for retreat on the other hand have been a different matter, altogether.
Nepal is a wonderful country and the JCM in Pokhara, KIBS in Kirtipur, and the nunnery up in Mukhtinath with their Dharma energy are incredible places for practice. Between visa issues, half-days without electricity and half-weeks without water, the reality of conditions for those not quite on a renunciation par with Milarepa can be daunting, though.
Still the wish is strong to be able to do retreats in Nepal, or anywhere, really!
And as if those prayers have been heard somewhere, along comes the Manjushri Retreat Center project in Thailand. Close enough to Bangkok to be within easy reach from anywhere in Asia, even in the world, really, yet far enough away from everything to provide the seclusion needed for true retreat, this place will be the ideal practice destination for anyone looking to deepen their practice without having to move, ah, climb mountains.
“It fills me with greatest joy and happiness to finally see the fruition of many years of wishes and aspirations. Every time I teach (or open my email for that matter) I receive requests by lay dharma brothers and sisters who seriously wish to practice more deeply than is possible in daily life but don’t have conditions to join one of the long traditional retreats. Our main places for such retreat so far have been limited and were located in Nepal where outer conditions can be quite difficult. With the development of the Manjushri Retreat Center we will be able to offer the priceless opportunity for retreat to many more students than ever before.
Please join me in thanking all those who have contributed, are contributing, and will be contributing to conditions for this project’s fruition, rejoicing in their aspirations, their generosity, and their merit!
May the Manjushri Retreat Center Thailand be vastly fruitful and beneficial and may all retreatants and sponsors swiftly attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings!
Yours in the Dharma, Dupseng Rinpoche.”
“Temples, viharas and retreat-centres for the Buddhadharma are built to benefit participants and visitors enabling them to access the timeless teachings of Lord Buddha. May every participant and visitor find what they are looking for in order to have the means to help and support their families, friends, communities, societies and the world as such.
May the establishment of the Manjushri Retreat Center benefit all sentient beings.
Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje.”
“I am very happy indeed about the establishment of a retreat centre in Thailand under the Manjushri Fellowship.
Dharma is the true cause of happiness that is needed even more in today’s world. True dharma is the application of the Buddha’s teaching on a daily basis. One sign of correct dharma application is one could feel the development of true wisdom.
The purpose of the retreat centre is to create opportunities for anyone to learn from qualified masters and to practice at same time.
Dupseng Rinpoche conceptualized the retreat centre and with help from devotees, the project has finally materialized. Dupseng Rinpoche and myself will be responsible for this new retreat centre as we already are for various monasteries and retreat centres in Nepal and other countries as well. It is my fervent wish that this retreat centre in Thailand will benefit practitioners around the world. This is a part of dharma gift to everyone. May it be auspicious and may the purest Buddha Dharma, particularly Karma Kagyu tradition, flourish.
Bhavatu sarva mangalam.
Shangpa Rinpoche.”
“Temples, viharas and retreat-centres for the Buddhadharma are built to benefit participants and visitors enabling them to access the timeless teachings of Lord Buddha. May every participant and visitor find what they are looking for in order to have the means to help and support their families, friends, communities, societies and the world as such.
May the establishment of the Manjushri Retreat Center benefit all sentient beings.
Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje.”
“I am very happy indeed about the establishment of a retreat centre in Thailand under the Manjushri Fellowship.
Dharma is the true cause of happiness that is needed even more in today’s world. True dharma is the application of the Buddha’s teaching on a daily basis. One sign of correct dharma application is one could feel the development of true wisdom.
The purpose of the retreat centre is to create opportunities for anyone to learn from qualified masters and to practice at same time.
Dupseng Rinpoche conceptualized the retreat centre and with help from devotees, the project has finally materialized. Dupseng Rinpoche and myself will be responsible for this new retreat centre as we already are for various monasteries and retreat centres in Nepal and other countries as well. It is my fervent wish that this retreat centre in Thailand will benefit practitioners around the world. This is a part of dharma gift to everyone. May it be auspicious and may the purest Buddha Dharma, particularly Karma Kagyu tradition, flourish.
Bhavatu sarva mangalam.
Shangpa Rinpoche.”
“It fills me with greatest joy and happiness to finally see the fruition of many years of wishes and aspirations. Every time I teach (or open my email for that matter) I receive requests by lay dharma brothers and sisters who seriously wish to practice more deeply than is possible in daily life but don’t have conditions to join one of the long traditional retreats. Our main places for such retreat so far have been limited and were located in Nepal where outer conditions can be quite difficult. With the development of the Manjushri Retreat Center we will be able to offer the priceless opportunity for retreat to many more students than ever before.
Please join me in thanking all those who have contributed, are contributing, and will be contributing to conditions for this project’s fruition, rejoicing in their aspirations, their generosity, and their merit!
May the Manjushri Retreat Center Thailand be vastly fruitful and beneficial and may all retreatants and sponsors swiftly attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings!
Yours in the Dharma, Dupseng Rinpoche.”
Impressions from The Recently Completed Site And The Construction
The first buildings are finished, and we can open as soon as the interiors have been completed.
Be part of this wonderful project, share in the merit and wisdom of retreat!
What is retreat and why do we need it?
To be able to focus on practice for a while, to be free from distractions of worldly life, and systematically develop on the path, that is retreat. Eventually, of course, practice becomes all-pervasive and there is nothing we do even in daily life that is not practice of dharma. On the way there, however, there are steps that are easier to take if we can focus on them without distractions, give them our full attention and energy for a while.
(click for details)
Retreat is important in all Buddhist traditions as a means to to train without distraction, to develop and practice renunciation. And as such Manjushri Retreat Centers are open to all Buddhists for their personal retreats, following the vision of the Manjushri Fellowship.
In Vajrayana, even more than in other Buddhist traditions, a certain amount of retreat is indispensable if we want to fully realize the potential of the fastest and most thorough of paths. The core method of taking the fruit for the path and “getting used to” our own Buddha-nature already being there requires us to overcome extremely strong habits of taking worldly perceptions for “reality.” And every time we interact with society, with socially constructed reality, every time we open a newspaper, browse the Internet, watch TV, or even take a walk in a city, we expose ourselves again and again to those habits. This is real. You need to own this. You have to be afraid of that. And every time we follow one of those impulses even with a single thought, we strengthen our deluded habits.
Retreat allows us to immerse ourselves in the “getting used to” enlightened reality and eventually emerge on the other side where we can be within samsara (and even function there) without being moved by it anymore, without losing our awareness at every turn.
The traditional three-year-three-month retreat in Vajrayana is designed to serve three purposes. Firstly, to allow the retreatant to attain realization and mastery, secondly to train lamas in everything they need to guide and teach others as well as, thirdly, lead all traditional practices, *and* to go through the complete process of transformation and realization. The curriculum serves all three ends, however without the need to be able to lead all traditional practices and ceremonies a subset of the complete curriculum is much preferable as it allows more depth and focus.
Of course the traditional time of three years and three months is not arbitrary, either. According to the teachings that time is one complete cycle of physical and mental renewal. So in a way, after that time in retreat everything that can be said to constitute you has arisen within the retreat. Which means after that time you are born from dharma practice. This effect cannot be achieved piecemeal without spending a lot more time than three years in total in retreat.
However that is about the only limitation when transferring the curriculum from the context of a long-time closed retreat to a more modular and open context.
After many years of wishes, aspirations, and requests, this precious opportunity is now poised to come to a much more accessible location. Near one of the biggest airports in Asia, easily traveled to not only from anywhere in South-East Asia but even from Europe and Australia, Manjushri Center Thailand is going to bring the possibility of retreat to more Dharma brothers and sisters than ever before.
Retreat at Manjushri Center
Students will receive initiations and instructions as they need them as they progress along the path, whether they simply want to complete a ngondro or immerse themselves in one particular practice, or whether they want to really go through the whole development traditionally entailed in the three year retreat.
(click for details)
A complete set of practices, a curriculum focused towards realisation and development can look something like this:
- ngondro
- guru yoga
- 7-point mind training
- shamatha
- vipashyana
- yidam
- protector
- optionally one of the six Naro-yogas
- mahamudra
The full program of the traditional three-year retreat is of course far broader as it has an additional aim. The graduates (‘lamas’) are expected to be able to lead any practice in traditional ways and contexts as well as guide others no matter what their particular practices. As such it entails 43 different practices. And all these will be available at the retreat center to choose from. (Of course based on practitioners’ prior experience, development, and realisation.)
For most of us the goal won’t be to be able to lead any and all sadhanas, practices, and ceremonies for groups of lamas and lay practitioners and guide students through all six Naro-yogas, etc.. For most of us the aim is to attain realization. For the benefit of all sentient beings, of course, but still, realization. And just like you cannot drill a deep well by starting a hundred shallow holes, it is better to stick with one method (or a curriculum of complimentary methods) to drill all the way through than to spend a little bit of time on each of too many interchangeable methods and never get much of anywhere. Except maybe disheartened.
So, after the preliminaries one each of guru, yidam, and protector is enough to drill the deepest and most productive well of wisdom.
With only a few months here, a few weeks there, and maybe half a year every now and then, a program like that feels much more doable than the whole hog of 43 practices. After all, in the three-year-retreat the supporting energy and the overall process make it possible to get through that much work in the time allowed, but in shorter retreats, when we do it piecemeal, it can take considerably longer to accomplish results in each practice.
In short, the Manjushri Retreat Center will create the best possible conditions for lay dharma brothers and sisters to do as long or short retreat as they can and need to progress on the path.
The details will vary in as many ways as there are practitioners, of course. Just like the Buddha gave us 84,000 teachings because there are so many different needs among sentient beings, the multitude of practices in Vajrayana is an a-la-carte menu of choices rather than a gala dinner with 43 courses that you have to somehow ingest in total.
Building the Center
The land is has been offered, the plans drawn, permissions acquired, the earth moved and ground prepared, and the construction has begun.
The building project will progress in 3 stages, with a minimum configuration in stage 2 allowing to start operations on a limited scale, and thanks to the generosity of the benefactors who have made this possible at all the development is currently funded well beyond stage 2, so that Manjushri Retreat Center Thailand is certain to start operation as planned.
(click for details)
When the plans are completely realized (all 3 stages built) the center will comprise four buildings with a total of forty retreat rooms that can serve either one or two practitioners each. All rooms have an attached bathroom as well as a small kitchenette and are fully equipped for closed retreat.
For communal practices, initiations, teachings, and ceremonies the center will have a large shrine hall in the Tibetan style, complete with statuary, kangyur and tengyur.
To best accommodate the Rinpoches’ work, two separate quarters are planned for them.
Communal kitchen, dining hall, group activities room (e.g., yoga), buildings for reception, caretakers, etc., complete and round out the infrastructure.
The central stupa is already being built (stage 1) and will be completed first as a source of immeasurable merit and a focal point for the Buddha’s blessings.
The second stage will comprise two of the retreatants’ apartment buildings (20 rooms), the shrine hall, kitchen and dining hall, and one of the Rinpoches’ quarters, so that operations can start as soon as stage 2 is complete.
The Manjushri Retreat Center Thailand is scheduled to open for retreatants towards the end of 2017. The detailed schedule for the opening of the different stages as well as the Grand Inauguration Ceremony are still being planned and will partially depend on the fundraising progress.
Follow your aspirations to support or practice!
Raising Funds to Raise Manjushri Retreat Center Thailand
We rejoice in the merit and generosity of the wonderful sponsors who support the building and development of the Manjushri Retreat Center Thailand. The land has been offered for Rinpoche’s work and the same beloved benefactor (who wishes to remain anonymous at this time) has committed a significant part of the building and development budget. Other sponsors have already pledged and offered a significant further part of the required budget. We are deeply grateful and rejoice with them!
A project of... (click to continue reading)
A project of this size, however, offers plenty of opportunity for sponsorship and support beyond these initial gifts.
As it is taught the sponsor and the yogi will reach enlightenment together and the yogi’s merit is shared equally with the sponsor. Considering how many dharma brothers and sisters will be doing retreat and progress towards the ultimate goal at Manjushri Retreat Center, we are very happy to offer this opportunity to support the development as well as operations and maintenance of the center.
Beyond the merit such a sponsorship entails there is another very specific karmic effect. If you would like to be able to do retreat at some point in your development, sponsoring the development of retreat for others is a perfect karmic seed to plant.
We rejoice with each and everyone who supports this project in any way and are deeply grateful to our beloved sponsors (past, present and future) for creating the material conditions for its fruition!
The building, development, and operations of the Manjushri Retreat Center Thailand require significant financial resources. To that end we welcome any and all donations.
If you would like to make a donation right away, please transfer to the following account:
Account name: Manjushri Foundation
Account number: 091-0-21792-6
SWIFT Code: BKKBTHBK
Bank: Bangkok Bank Public Co. Ltd.
(This is the Thai non-profit foundation that is in charge of completing and operating the retreat center as well as coordinating all activities there.)
Beyond that, conditions for the success and fruition of a project like this also entail a lot of non-monetary support. There are many ways to join the effort of creating the Manjushri Retreat Center Thailand, and each and every one of them is welcome and wonderful. Join the mailing list, like the Facebook page, spread the word online and offline, and leave a rejoicing, supporting, or aspiring comment here or on Facebook. If you have any suggestions how you might support the project in other ways, please contact us.
(Alternatively, for bank information expand the box above.)
And of course, including the project and all future retreatants in your wishes and prayers in your daily practice, giving rise to the motivation and aspiration of bodhicitta, that alone is infinitely valuable and powerful support.
About the Manjushri Fellowship
Manjushri Fellowship – a Rimed Buddhist Family is the international umbrella of Dharma activities of Dupseng Rinpoche and Shangpa Rinpoche.
Under the spiritual auspices of His Holiness Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje, Manjuishri Fellowship is following the non-sectarian approach of the great Rimed movement.
A website for the Manjushri Fellowship is currently being developed. Meanwhile, please use the contact form on their temporary homepage to get in touch with any questions or feedback.
Raise your voice to help raise Manjushri Retreat Center!
Dupseng Rinpoche
Dupseng Rinpoche has been a retreat master in his three lives. The 3rd and current Dupseng Rinpoche is the retreat master at the 3-year-retreat center Karma Ngedon Palbar Ling in Sarangkot, near Pokhara, Nepal. He is also the abbot at Jangchub Choeling Monastery in Hemja, near Pokhara. Most importantly, though, he is the beloved and venerated teacher of many lay and monastic students and practitioners in five monasteries and dozens of centers in Nepal and around the world. He travels the world teaching and guiding his students many months each year, and gives public teachings at KIBS in Kirtipur, near Kathmandu, Nepal, as well as at KIBI in Delhi, India.
Find out more about Rinpoche and his activities on his website.
Shangpa Rinpoche
Shangpa Rinpoche is the reincarnation of the First Shangpa Rinpoche whose compassionate activities have touched many in Tibet and Nepal. At the age of eleven, he was ordained as a monk by His Holiness the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, who bestowed him the name Karma Shedrub Chokyi Sengge, which means “The Dharma Lion of Knowledge and Practice”. At present, Rinpoche is the Abbot of Karma Kagyud Buddhist Centre Singapore. He is responsible for a number of monasteries and nunneries in Nepal and India and teaches within the Karma Kagyu lineage of Vajrayana under HH 17th Karmapa, Trinley Thaye Dorje.
Find out more about Rinpoche on his website.
Join the Manjushri Retreat Center Project
There are many ways to join or support this project. For instance, go on retreat yourself, of course, as soon as the center is open. Rejoice in the center project and all the activities there. That’s free merit waiting to be picked up right there. And, of course, with a project of this magnitude and magnificence, there’s always the possibility to contribute.
Share and spread the merit
Use the share and like buttons here on the page to let others know of this wonderful project. Like the Manjushri Facebook page.
Manjushri Retreat Center Thailand
Manjushri Retreat Center Thailand
The contact form is temporarily disabled to avoid the new automated spam. We’re working on a fix. Meanwhile please use email to info@manjushri.center if you’d like to get in touch. Thanks!
Congratulations! Excellent news. So happy ? All good wishes.
dear rinpoches. i am very happy that you found a place in thailand for this wonderful retreat center. may many peoples are getting good inprints in there mind and may the buddhadharma make many peoples happy. lets help all together to make this center a place for the good of all sentient beings.
ricky
Thank you all- a wonderful place for all of us! We really appreciate! Best wishes for the projekt!
Sending best wishes for this wonderful project, may many beings benefit from this amazing effort. My support and aspirations accompany this beautiful project. Thanks to all, who make this possible. Best wishes and Greetings from Berlin.
ดีใจ
Rejoicing with the development of the centre ! Sadhu, sadhu sadhu
Rejoice for this project and may Asian practitioners who would like to dedicate their life for more serious and deeper practice of Buddhism would take this opportunity.
Hello!
I am relatively new to the Buddhist tradition but I am very interested in coming to stay at your temple for perhaps 3 weeks in May to learn more about Buddhism & practice my meditation.
I have an illness which requires me to take medication daily, numerous times per day. Is there a fridge where I could store medication? Also, due to my illness I usually require a mid day rest as my energy reserves can be quite low, would this be a problem? I also require regular snacks to stabilise blood sugar levels, is this ok? I could provide my own snacks if necessary.
I have stable health but slightly lower energy levels so would like to ensure that should I need, I could take time during the day to sleep.
If there is a suitable course for beginners, how much is it?
Thank you!
Emma
Incredible! I wish all the success of the project and fellowship programs. I am keen to learn Buddhism as a platform for peace and happiness.