Schedule

Six months of Retreat & Teachings

Topics to be announced. Contact: Jamie

Three months of Retreats & Teachings

Location not specified but somewhere in Europe. Contact: Jamie

Vajra Yogini Retreat:

Crown Empowerment of Vajra Yogini, teachings on Compassion, Yidam yoga, inner yogas and Mahamudra. Contact: Alan

Diving, Plankton, Coffee, Chocolate and a Unique Culture.

Ten to Fourteen day live-aboard diving trip with multiple dives per day with an emphasis on natural history studies. Approximately $250-350 USD per day. Interested students of Lama Mark who like to dive please contact: Jamie

At this point we are still working on the itinerary and location. Once it is fully settled we will inform all on the Email-list.

Fully Awake Compassionate Mind:

Teachings on Compassion, Yidam Yoga, Inner Yogas, and Mahamudra in a deep retreat setting.

Retreat is full with a waiting list. For more information, or to place your name on the waiting list, or to enquire about the server meditator roles, please visit dharmacentre.org or by phoning the Dharma Centre on (705) 488 2704.

Three to four day Meditation Retreat and Teachings

Topic to be announced. Contact: Stephanie or Brian

JEWEL ORNAMENT OF LIBERATION (Dam chos yid bzin gyi nor bu thar pa rin po che'i rgyan)

written by Je Gampopa; a complete exposition of the Mahayana teachings of ground, path and fruition of Buddhadharma.

Lama Mark will give a full exposition of this text throughout the 7 weeks.

For the first three weeks there are one, two or three week options available. Space is limited and preference will be given to those staying for the full 7 weeks. No one will be permitted to start the retreat late or to leave earlier based on their option chosen. Contact: Crystal Mountain Society

Deep Sensing & Seeing with the Heart  

A two day mini-retreat and Empowerment of Green Tara of the Acacia Forest

Saturday 9:30 am - 9 pm, Sunday 9 am - 5 pm

On Saturday morning we will begin promptly at 9:30 with the Empowerment. It is appreciated that participants arrive 15 minutes early!.

DANA: (Donation) Support for the Teacher is given separately from the Retreat Costs, please give generously!
RETREAT COSTS: $100. (We collect fees to cover course expenses and the Teacher''s travel, food and accommodation.)

Registration & Inquiries: Saskia

One month of Public classes, Teachings & Retreats in Germany & Switzerland

Topics and dates to be confirmed, but most likely a one week retreat in Germany with open public classes before and after the retreat.
Contact: Namgyal Rinpoche Gruppe Deutschland

Switzerland schedule:
Friday, May 25: 19:30 open public Buddha Dharma class
Saturday, May 26: 19:30 open public Buddha Dharma class
Sunday, May 27: 19:30 open public Buddha Dharma class

Topics and venue to be confirmed.
Contact: Namgyal Group Switzerland

Teachings & Retreats in Queenstown and Auckland, NZ

Lama Mark's teachings Queenstown
April 8th-3oth: Teachings based on Blazing Awakeness, will include empowerments to be advised and Movie Yoga.

Please contact Alan for more information: qtndharmahouse@yahoo.com, or visit the website: http://www.dharmahouse.org.nz/

Lama Mark's teachings Auckland
May 1st to 4th: Teachings on Contemplating Illusion through Loving all Life.
May 5th to 11th: Empowerments and Teachings on Unifying Loving-kindness and Pristine Awareness.

Please contact Mira for more information: info@aucklandsphere.org, or visit the website http://aucklandsphere.org/

BLAZING AWAKENESS

A one month retreat and teachings at the Wangapeka Retreat Centre. Contact: Alan

The Art & Science of Meditation

the practice of awareness & compassion

“Ever wonder why we really want to meditate? What is it’s purpose? Where does meditation lead us? What is it we have to do to meditate? Why all the different techniques and themes of meditation?”

Lama Mark will kindly and directly illuminate for us the most essential points of the art and science of meditation within the Buddhist tradition. And he frequently uses results from neuroscience research to show how meditation works and what we need to do to make it effective. Questions are most welcome.

click here for the poster

for more information contact Elizabeth McClelland

Contemplating the Nature of Illusion
Teachings on the 12 signs of Illusion from the Indian Tantric Tradition

The Crystal Mountain Annual Winter Retreat

THE UNION OF COMPASSION AND PRIMORDIAL AWARENESS

Sunday January 15- Saturday February 11 2012 (2 week (January 15-28) or 4 week retreat options available)
Location: Villas B’alam Ya, Lake Atilan, Carretera a Santa Catarina, Guatemala, (www.balamya.com).
For registration and details please contact:
Nicolina Sebok at shareseeds@yahoo.ca
Or Download the 2012 Winter Retreat Registration Forms and General Information Package
Costs and deposits: yet to be determined. Empowerments to be announced. More details to follow.
Photo from Villas B’alam Ya Lake Atilan

Presently, Lama Mark is in a private meditation retreat here on Galiano Island. Earlier today we received a message from Lama Mark that he would like to expand the title for the The Crystal Mountain Annual Winter Retreat in Guatemala. Lama Mark would like to include Contemplating the Nature of Illusion; Teachings on the 12 signs of Illusion from the Indian Tantric Tradition to the previously advertised title "The Union of Compassion & Primordial Awareness".

Teachings and meditations will be given based on the text, "Contemplating Illusion through Loving All Life", as well as Empowerments (Wongkurs) from the Highest Yoga Tantra's to be announced during the retreat.

One month of explorations in Tso Pema (Rewalsar) India

Interested students of Lama Mark who would like to explore and travel in northern India please contact: Jamie

At this point we are still working on the itinerary. Once it is fully settled we will inform all on the Email-list.

Considerations: You will need to get a Visitor's visa for India, please check the following link for information: http://in.vfsglobal.ca/ It can take 5 to 7 business days.

We are pleased to announce that Lama Mark Webber will be in Vancouver on Sunday November 27th 2011. There will be a potluck supper followed by a Dharma talk.
Lama Mark will give teachings to clarify, step by step, The Path of Liberation-Meditation. Questions welcomed!
All welcome. Please RSVP for potluck and/or just the Dharma talk terryfrewer@shaw.ca
saskias@telus.net 604.926.7398
Potluck Supper: 5:45pm. Class at 7pm
Cost: by Donation
For further information please contact Terry Frewer: 604-926-6288.
Address: 1444 Argyle Ave. West Vancouver [1 1/2 blocks south of Marine Drive between 14th and 15th] (15 minutes from downtown Vancouver).

The Sixty Qualities of Buddha’s Speech
THE ANNUAL CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN SUMMER RETREAT with Lama Mark Webber

Lama Mark has been requested to give teaching and a retreat on the Sixty Qualities of Buddha’s Speech.

“Through Compassion and Wisdom an extraordinary range of communication is possible. The sixty qualities of Buddha’s speech, as described in texts is astounding in its range and depth. Yet, we can all strive to garner and develop these qualities for the benefit of ourselves and all beings. In this meditation retreat we will explore many types of communication, both inner and outer, to craft ever deeper, richer, wiser moments of speech and communication. We will ask some fundamental questions: Why speech? Why communicate? Inner and outer sounds; what is the range and what do these tones do? How did communication and speech evolve and to what degree can we elevate it? In asking these questions we will keep returning to the descriptions of the 60 qualities or ‘tones’ of Awakened Speech and see if we can bring forth, even a little, each one. There will be four Empowerments bestowed in this retreat: Guru Padma Sambhava, The Immutable Sarasvati, Nang of Vajra Yogini and Ahm Gtsug Vajrapani. To refine our speech, like refining gold from its ore, we purify both inner and outer narrative stories or dialogues—the ‘tones’ of mind. This process of awareness and purification leads to profound changes in our physiology and experience.” LM

Also, throughout the retreat Lama Mark will give an oral transmission as well as teachings on The Root Text of: The Three Words that Strike the Vital Point (Thsig gsum gnad brdeg) by Paltrul Rinpoche

FOR MORE INFORMATION PHONE SUSAN VAN ASSELT
(250) 362-5161
vanasselt.susan@gmail.com

For more information about Crystal Mountain visit the website at www.crystalmountain.org

Four Noble Truths and Essence of Mind
Two Evening Buddha Dharma Talks
with Lama Mark Webber
Tuesday, June 28th and Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
7:30 p.m.

All of the various Insight meditations help uncover three great mysteries: liberation from suffering, mind and compassion. In these two evenings, Lama Mark Webber will open the vast door on how we discover liberation from suffering and why the meditations on mind and compassion are so essential. To understand the essence of the Buddha’s Teaching, we must bring about a unity of experience, ‘seeing’ why we suffer, what is it that suffers and unfolding the great compassion is the natural, yet exalted expression of liberated mind.

Contact: River and Bridge: Winnipeg Study and Meditation Group
tel: (204) 489-6994
email: mlchown@shaw.ca

Location:Heritage Lounge
Canadian Mennonite University,
500 Shaftsbury Blvd.
North Campus,
(north side of Grant Avenue)

Ever Deepening Mindfulness:
Tuning up the Inner Microscope and Telescope

Over the course of a two week meditation retreat, Lama Mark will continue to explore the Dharmas in the Namgyal Sadhana by refining and ever deepening the practice and experience of Mindfulness and Insight.

The Prajnaparamita Empowerment and Teachings on the Heart Sutra

Lama Mark Webber will bestow the Prajnaparamita Empowerment and give teachings on the Heart Sutra. These events will be held in a private home, so please RSVP for directions and details. By donation.

To enquire or RSVP, please email: lisamichellecowen@rogers.com

Click to download the German language poster
Click to download the German language postcard
Click to download the English language poster

Public Talk in Salon Stephan Lipphaus Naturfriseur, Karlstraße 50, 42105 Wuppertal; 5 € plus Dana * - Meditation and the Path of Liberation - May 13th (7:30pm)

Weekend Workshop at WPZ (Waldpädagogisches Zentrum Burgholz, Friedensstraße 69, 42349 Wuppertal; 40 € plus Dana*, without meals) - Mindfulness, Breath and Vipassana - May 14-15th: (10am-6pm, 10am-4pm)

Retreat in the Oberbergisches Land from 18th to 26th of May 2011at Seminarhaus Ingrid Hufen, Auf dem Kuppen 8, 51570 Windeck–Halscheid, 65,-to 80,- € per day (depending on room) for room, meals and dharma courses, plus Dana*; ask for seperate days to book. - The Namgyal Yoga and Teachings - May 18-26th.

Lama Mark Webber’s (Lama Yongdu’a) style of teaching is non-sectarian and universalist in nature, displaying for beings the wondrous unity, uniqueness and intrinsic freedom of all life. His teaching is classically founded, but well integrated with science, art and nature. His work with people demonstrates a profound commitment to freeing beings from innumerable suffering states, whether through meditation, study, art, travel or science. He has been studying and teaching Buddha Dharma (the Teachings of Liberation) and meditation for thirty-five years. His root Lama was the Ven. Namgyal Rinpoche. He is a Visiting and Resident Teacher for a number of retreat and Dharma Centres worldwide and is the author of a number of books and publications, including,”Why Meditate? A Heart Song of Vast Release”, “Union of Loving-kindness and Emptiness”, “All Life Breathing (CD set)” and editor and author of the booklet, “A Basket of Gems.”

For further information please see: www.namgyal-rinpoche-gruppe-deutschland.de/
or contact Karin Ricono karin.ricono@t-online.de or 0202/305930 or 0049/17652579518

*Dānā - Lama Mark does not want money to be a barrier to receiving teachings so there is no set fee. To support him be as generous as you can.

Establishing Mental/Emotional Freedom:

download poster here

We are pleased to announce that Lama Mark Webber will be leading a retreat with Dharma talks and practice sessions on meditation in Switzerland. Lama Mark will point out the very heart of meditation, integrating the ancient arts of meditation with our modern understandings of cognition and brain science. He will emphasize through practice sessions the importance of developing an ever deepening awareness and discernment of the qualities of freedom. Teachings from the Anapana-sati Sutta (Mindfulness of Breath) taught by the Buddha will be emphasized. There will be many opportunities for questions and personal guidance. The Empowerment of Namgyal will be bestowed at the end of the retreat.

The retreat will take place in a private cottage near Mammern at Lake Konstanz (Untersee). For more information on the location, the teachings and accommodation please contact Michael Gohl at: michael.gohl@bluewin.ch

At Wednesday, 27 at 2pm the Namgyal Group Switzerland will organize a group tour with Lama Mark Webber in CERN- Geneva. Applications must be made until February 10 at Michael Gohl at: michael.gohl@bluewin.ch

Schedule:
Open Meditation Weekend April 29 until May 1
Friday, April 29 15.00 -18.00 Arrival and registration
18.30 Supper together
20.00 Opening Class

Saturday, April 30
Sunday, May 1 06.00 Early Morning Group Meditation
09.00 Teaching
15.00 Teaching
20.00 Evening Group Meditation

Silent Retreat:
Monday, May 2 until Friday, May 6 Schedule to be announced

Namgyal Initiation:
Saturday, May 7 09.00 Wongkur

Private Interviews with Lama Mark Webber
Times to be announced

Information:
Karma Yoga: Cooking, kitchen cleaning and some other house work will be shared among the participants.

Costs Course fee Weekend: CHF 150.00
Weekend and retreat: CHF 300.00
Single days: special arrangements

Accommodation: CHF 20.00 per night in the cottage

Meals: We will share the costs among those eating at the cottage. Count about CHF 10.00 per main meal

Teaching: Dana for the teacher according to the Dharma tradition

Accommodation: In the cottage there are three small double rooms with bunkbeds. The shower is under the open sky ☺. Pillows and duvets are available. Please bring sleeping bag or your own sheets, pillow cases and duvet cover.
Other options are the guesthouses in Mammern (30 Min. walking or 5 Min. drive), i.e. Gasthaus zum Hecht: www.hecht-mammern.ch/ Gasthaus und Hotel zum Schiff: www.schiff-mammern.ch Travel Nearest train station is Mammern: www.mammern.ch .
We will pick you up.
For car driving directions check with Michael.

Registration Eva & Michael Gohl Tel. +41 44 422 29 87
eva.gohl@bluewin.ch or michael.gohl@bluewin.ch

"THE UNION OF SOUND & AWARENESS"
7 day meditation retreat

”Just pause for a moment and try to estimate how many outer and inner stories, and internal moments of chatter we have in a day, in a year, in our whole life. Then please consider that each dialogue, each habitual pattern secretes neuro-homones and shapes our body, speech and mental-emotional patterns. These patterns become brain maps, built of countless sounds and vibrations. Who we are, who we become is how we sound and vibrate, manifesting what we say and do. We pay close attention to all the internal sounds and vibrations, hour after hour, day after day; and we learn to transform each statement, sound, image and posture into an expression of freedom and compassion. New maps are formed about us and how we experience the world.

This one-week retreat focuses on exploring the unity of awareness and sound. Not only can sound soften the “heart” and brighten awareness, but it leads to profound changes in all levels of inner and outer communication. We will deeply explore many levels of sound; song, sounding of syllables, breath, movement with mindfulness and mantra yoga. These practices produce real physiological change, and confidence in expanding to a continuum of tranquil vitality resulting in greater natural vividness and a compassionate flow of awareness. We not only deeply relax through sound, but we can then cut through the illusion of sound and all vibration as being substantial, leading to uncovering essential spaciousness and luminosity of mind. Meditation is far from being a frozen state. Meditation or mind in its naked state is vividly alive, awake, loving and without constraint. With a great openness of heart and awareness, emptiness of all experience shines through.” Lama Mark

Please book as places are limited.

For more information please contact Mira at georginamira@yahoo.co.nz or 021 548 781. Costings are still being confirmed, Mira should have the info by next week.

As many have heard, the Venerable Sayadaw U. Thilawunta passed away on March 17th. In commemoration of the passing of Sayadaw, this full moon evening, Saturday March 19th, Lama Mark Webber will lead a ceremony in the Whare at the Wangapeka Retreat Centre. This puja is necessarily limited to those in retreat, due to the current silent Vipassana retreat on Death and Impermanence.

However, on March 30th, at 3:30 pm Lama Mark will lead a public ceremony in remembrance of this precious Dharma Teacher at the Pagoda at Wangapeka. The Pagoda is currently being sanded of peeling paint and a fresh white coat and gold trim will be ready for the March 30th commemoration. Flowers, food, candles, incense and other offerings are welcome, in memory of a tireless Noble Teacher and Meditation Master who mentored the unfolding of many beings, including the late Ven. Namgyal Rinpoche and many members of our Dharma community.

Rafael Hoekstra,
for Lama Mark,
Wangapeka Retreat Centre

For more information please contact Keith

Death, Birth, and Great Bliss: A meditation & biology retreat on the
transience of all

A four week retreat at the Wangapeka Educational Trust & Retreat Center, New Zealand, organized by the Queenstown Dharma House.

A one-week introductory option*

Lama Mark will be teaching a three-week Vipassana retreat that starts with one-week of nature studies and body awareness.

“Week One-Opening up the Enquiring Mind: To prime the mind of enquiry, joy and investigation, at a global scale, we will start with an introduction to the natural history of birth, life and death, combined with sessions of body awareness and energy yoga to settle the mind. We will spend the majority of each day exploring life forms with microscopes and keen field observation, mixed with informal seminars on the biology of reproduction, death, life and ecology. Learning the retreat skills of the gentle mode of enquiry, interest, study and observation will be especially emphasized through the field, body awareness and lab sessions and how these are applied in the following retreat. Please see the quote below from Thomas Eisner’s book, For the Love of Insects.

Weeks Two to Four - Meditation on Transience: With the support of energy yoga and loving-kindness, I will direct participants minds to the insight meditations on the transient nature of all things: birth, continuity and cessation. This involves repeatedly observing with a still, clear mind the nature of sensation, feelings, mental states, self and the experience of all phenomena. Vipassana meditations, including the meditation on death will be given from the Theravadin and Vajrayana traditions as well as from some modern biological themes. By deeply contemplating the transient nature of all, we come to experience of the cessation of clinging--bliss-emptiness--a great freedom. The profundity of this type of meditation and its bliss-emptiness nature are summed up by this ancient Pali verse:

Anicca vata sankhara - uppada-vaya-dhammino
Uppajjitva nirujjhanti - tesam vupasamo sukho

Transient are all component things, their nature is to arise and cease,
life comes into being, then dissolves, their cessation is bliss.”
(Lama Mark)

Priority for accomodation will be given to those who wish to attend the entire four-week retreat.

A quote from Thomas Eisner’s book, For the Love of Insects:

“How is it, I am often asked, that I make discoveries? I always feel a bit awkward about answering the question, because I do not have a particular method. The truth is that I spend a fair amount of time looking around. I already knew as a boy that if I wanted to see things happen- if I wanted to win the revelatory lottery of nature- I had to buy a lot of tickets. So it was in my youth that I formed the habit of taking exploratory walks, whenever possible and as often as possible, for the sole purpose of “eaves-dropping” on nature. Naturalists thrive of such walks, driven by curiosity and the hope of witnessing chance events. Taken at face value, such events may not amount to much. But they may “connect” to what you already know, to previous observations stored away in your memory, and thus take on added meaning. There has to be a constant readiness to make such connections. Every tidbit of new information, no matter how trivial, has the potential of amounting to more than a speck of colour. Properly assigned to the pointillist canvas that constitutes your inner view of the natural world, the new speck adds dimension to the vision.

... I have been extremely lucky in having nature reveal itself on occasion through chance events in my presence. I can remember as if it were yesterday witnessing for the first time Utetheisa being cut from a spider web, or Chrysopa dressing itself as an aphid, or Ammophila carrying a “flower,” and I yearn for future occasions when I may again be granted unexpected glimpses into the workings of nature. One of the great joys of returning to your natural haunts time and again, is that you have the opportunity of grasping the broader image. Observations tend then to become cumulative, to be evocative and revelatory in ways that are not possible until you begin to feel at home in the area. For the naturalist, in fact, feeling at home means having achieved a biological appreciation of a region.” (p. 395)

For information about the retreat, please contact: qtndharmahouse@yahoo.com

Queenstown Dharma Teachings

Wednesday 9th - Arrival in Queenstown

Thursday 10th - Informal class - 6.00 pm - Ask Lama Mark questions.

Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th 2.30 pm and 7.00 pm.
The Union of Sound and Awareness. “I estimate that many people have at least 10 thousand outer and inner stories, conversations, songs, dialogues and chatter per day; about 3.5 million per year. Please consider that each dialogue, secretes neuro-hormones shaping and vibrating our body, speech and mental-emotional patterns—forming our brain maps. It is all sound. We will discover that we can learn to replace the habitual sounds and “vibrate” and sing liberative maps through meditative awareness. This is a very powerful form of mind, speech and body yoga.” (Lama Mark)

Tuesday 15th - Wednesday 16th, Thursday 17th. - 7.00 pm.
The Cognitive Process in Meditation and Liberation. 7.00 pm. Teachings from the Abhidhamma and modern neuroscience . It has been said by some great teachers that Liberation from emotional suffering is the experiential knowledge of the cognitive process.

Saturday 19th - Sunday 20th - (times to be advised)
Movie Yoga & Insight Meditation: Going to the Movies to Realize Emptiness and Illusion. Movies examined with sharp awareness provide a swift method to understand and glimpse the nature of illusion, mental creation and Emptiness; a practice of Penetrative Insight meditation. Lama Mark will give an introduction and orientation into this unusual Yoga, and then we will go to the cinema to practice and make discoveries. There will be two very different movies (at a cinema) and four classes exploring the nature of Emptiness. Lama Mark will then give commentary on a most profound pithy text by the great yogi-scholar Ju Mipham Rimpoche (1846-1912).

Tuesday 22nd, Wednesday 23rd - 7.00 pm.
Teachings on the Paramī (Perfections). The Six Paramī (or Pāramitā) of the Mahayana tradition: generosity, ethics, energy, patience, concentration and wisdom, are the ‘bedrock’ strengths that need to be developed to a high degree to become liberated from suffering and assist others. This is one of those basic but deeply profound teachings—rich like an ocean of jewels—required for all meditative practitioners and those studying any facet of Buddha Dharma.

Saturday 26th, Sunday 27th and Monday 28th - 10 am to 5.00 pm.
Mindfulness of Breathing (Ānāpāna-sati) Retreat. Followed by a Pot-Luck Supper. Lama Mark will give step by step teaching, with practice sessions, on the classic meditation of Ānāpāna-sati (Mindfulness of Breathing) by Sakyamuni Buddha. Both the Tranquility and Insight aspects of this remarkable meditation will be presented and explained.

Note: Empowerments yet to be announced. Contact: qtndharmahouse@yahoo.com

Tuesday 1 March 2010 – Lama Mark leaves Queenstown.

The Path of Liberation-Meditation:
Explained Step by Step in an Evening

4 February · 7:30 - 9:30pm in the Prema Room
Lama Mark Webber will give an evening talk on Meditation.
Questions welcomed.

Cost: $5 room hire fee.
Plus Dana (Donation) to the Teacher. Lama Mark lives only on donations please give generously.

For more information please contact Mira by email or phone 021 548 781


The Importance of Mindfulness

5 February · 09:00 - 12:00

The Importance of Mindfulness and Investigation in Freeing up Hindering Emotional States.
In this morning class we will explore body based mindfulness meditations in the Lotus Sanctuary Room, at the bottom of Wellpark Retreat.
Please bring loose clothing suitable for movement, meditation cushion to sit on and a blanket for lying on.

Cost: $15 room hire fee
Plus Dana: Dana is Lama Mark's only source of income- please be generous.

For more information please contact Mira by email or phone 021 548 781

Establishing Mental/Emotional Freedom:
The Art and Science of Meditation

We are pleased to announce that Lama Mark Webber will be giving a talk and some brief practice sessions on the art and science of emotional freedom. Lama Mark will point out the very heart of meditation, from the Buddhist tradition, integrating the ancient arts of meditation with our modern understandings of cognition and brain science. He will underscore the essentiality of developing ever deepening calm-lucidity, mindfulness and discernment of physical and mental phenomena. There will be many opportunities for questions.

For more information on the location, the teachings and accommodation please contact Eve Dion at:evedion@gmail.com or (831) 234-8057

In response to our requests for another long retreat and a deep study of Abhidhamma, Lama Mark has proposed a four month retreat on Galiano Island, September 18, 2010-January 15, 2011. Sponsored by Crystal Mountain Society.

The Abhidhamma(Pali for "Higher Laws" or "Higher Phenomena") is one of the three-baskets (collections) of the Buddha's teachings. In the Theravadin tradition it is considered to be the pinnacle of the Buddha's teachings. It is a deep study via meditative analysis of mind and form, states, meditative concentration, realms of being, mental processes, cognition and stages of liberation; all from the perspective of the Buddha's meditative insight. Abhidhamma studies combined with meditation are essential for better understanding the whole of Buddhist Teachings, especially the progressive unfoldment through meditative concentration and insight knowledge.

The Course/Retreat Plan is to have approximately three-months of Abhidhamma teachings, study and short meditation retreats, followed by 3-4 weeks of deep retreat on these profound teachings of Insight. Lama Mark stated that he will give the entire transmission of the text, the Abhidhammathasangaha, with some teachings from the Abhidhammakosa interspersed with modern cognitive, neuroscience, life sciences, ecology, physics/chemistry and space science perspectives. Be prepared to translate, study, investigate together, do lab explorations and meditate! The emphasis of this program will be on combining intellectual rigour with insight meditation in the tradition of Abhidhamma as Lama Mark received it from the Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche.

The empowerment of Sarasvati will be given on October 16th.

THE UNION OF SOUND & AWARENESS

”Just pause for a moment and try to estimate how many outer and inner stories, and internal moments of chatter we have in a day, in a year, in our whole life. Then please consider that each dialogue, each habitual pattern secretes neuro-homones and shapes our body, speech and mental-emotional patterns. These patterns become brain maps, built of countless sounds and vibrations. Who we are, who we become is how we sound and vibrate, manifesting what we say and do. We pay close attention to all the internal sounds and vibrations, hour after hour, day after day; and we learn to transform each statement, sound, image and posture into an expression of freedom and compassion. New maps are formed about us and how we experience the world.

This three-week retreat focuses on exploring the unity of awareness and sound. Not only can sound soften the “heart” and brighten awareness, but it leads to profound changes in all levels of inner and outer communication. We will deeply explore many levels of sound; song, sounding of syllables, breath, movement with mindfulness and mantra yoga. These practices produce real physiological change, and confidence in expanding to a continuum of tranquil vitality resulting in greater natural vividness and a compassionate flow of awareness. We not only deeply relax through sound, but we can then cut through the illusion of sound and all vibration as being substantial, leading to uncovering essential spaciousness and luminosity of mind. Meditation is far from being a frozen state. Meditation or mind in its naked state is vividly alive, awake, loving and without constraint. With a great openness of heart and awareness, emptiness of all experience shines through.” Lama Mark

If you wish to study with Lama Mark privately, he is available for personal guidance and classes.

Registrar is Jane at 604-266-6866 or 604-837-4744 or email janemortifee@telus.net
Retreat Manager is Johanna

Establishing Mental/Emotional Freedom:
The Art and Science of Meditation

We are pleased to announce that Lama Mark Webber will be giving a series of Dharma Talks, teachings and practice sessions on meditation in Guatemala. Lama Mark will point out the very heart of meditation, integrating the ancient arts of meditation with our modern understandings of cognition and brain science. He will emphasize through practice sessions the importance of developing an ever deepening awareness and discernment of the qualities of freedom. There will be many opportunities for questions and personal guidance. Also join Lama Mark in his various explorations, likely some visits to coffee plantations and roasters, Guatemalan jade, textiles and various microscopic algae researches.

For more information on the location at Lake Atitlan, the teachings and accomodation please contact Laurel Jacobson at: laurel.jacobson@gmail.com

Click HERE to see the poster.

If you are interested in traveling to Guatemala from Canada, feel free to contact Melba Lapham for air ticket options: Mi Tierra Holidays Vancouver. ph: 604-689-5571 toll free: 1 877-689-5571, melba.mitierra@shaw.ca

The Annual Three-week Crystal Mountain Retreat:

The Nature of Community: going into the heart of communing with all.

Lama Mark will guide participants on an in-depth exploration--through meditations, group discoveries, classes and discussions--around the themes of community, communing, meditation, liberation and learning. We will start the retreat with four to five days of intensive explorations of body-mind awareness and physical integration through Feldenkrais guided by Jamie van Dam.

“We are enmeshed in a vast interconnected web of life and form and we are all part of a immense and intelligent community. But what do we really know of it? How do we participate in and explore this web without confusion, projection and turmoil? The word community literally comes from the roots “together” and “gift”, meaning to “exchange together”, or “give amongst each other”. Which kind of gifts are we giving and receiving: anxiety, harm, confusion or clarity, intelligence and compassion? Are we really aware of what we are exchanging internally and to others? Before we can commune well on a big scale--together with humans, groups and all kinds of creatures--we need to learn about giving and exchanging on the micro level. We require a clarity and depth exploration of what it is like to ‘commune’ with our own organism, to feel deeply comfortable and loving in our own ‘skin’. And the practice of generosity is the basis. Generosity builds great strength of mind. We will learn how to give deeply to our being, by drenching ourselves in mindfulness and loving-kindness, moment by moment and thereby expand this openness to all creatures and forms about us. To commune well is to be clear, alive, discovering, sensing and compassionate. To be clear and compassionate requires a deep physiological dissolving of our mental confusion and turmoil. The 21 Taras Empowerment will be bestowed on Sunday, July 18th.The Empowerments of Namgyal and White Mahakala will also be bestowed.” (Lama Mark)

For further information please call Jane at 604-266-6866 or 604-837-4744 or email janemortifee@telus.net

Here is the poster for the public classes
To see the poster for the retreat, please click here.

Deep Sensing and Seeing with the Heart:
An exploration of the Heart Sutra and Empowerment of Prajnaparamita

A mini retreat-With Lama Mark Webber

The Heart Sutra is one of the great Buddhist classics pointing directly to the nature of emptiness, the essence of all experience and wisdom mind. It is a pithy and poetic meditation text, compassionate and deeply moving. With mindful attention to the experiences of our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, perceptions, feelings and mind we begin to experience an open and wondrous freedom. The Tantric Empowerment of Prajnaparamita, who embodies the teaching of the Heart Sutra will be bestowed at the beginning of this retreat.
In addition to Lama Mark's teaching there will be afternoon sessions of body-mind awareness and physical integration through Feldenkrais guided by Jamie van Dam. Please bring along your meditation cushion and a blanket for your comfort. DATE: June 26th and 27th, 2010.
LOCATION: Vancouver School of Theology UBC, room 527, 6000 Iona Drive, Vancouver, BC
PARKING: The Carey Center, located behind VST & UBC Rose Garden parking lot. Costs:$5/day.
REGISTRATION and inquiries: call Saskia at 604 926-7398 or Debi at 604 529 1877.
DANA: (Donation) Support for the Teacher is given separately from the Retreat Costs, please give generously!
RETREAT COSTS: $100 (We collect fees to cover course expenses and the Teacher''s travel, food and accommodation.)
PROPOSED SCHEDULE: Saturday 9:30 am to 9 pm, Sunday 9 am to 5 pm

On Saturday morning we will begin promptly at 9:30 with the Empowerment of Prajnaparamita. It is appreciated that participants arrive 15 minutes early!

FOOD:For the lunch & supper breaks, there are several restaurants close by, as well as the workshop space has a small kitchen,surrounding quiet gardens & a deck with with a million dollar view.You are welcome to enjoy these facilities.

Please feel free to distribute this poster.

Contemplating Illusion, Contemplating the Essence: Continuing explorations of the Namgyal Guru Yoga

Lama Mark writes: "This retreat will be a blend of traditional teachings and modern neuroscience (with emphasis on neuroplasticity). It is essential to understand why the practice of Buddhist Tantra, which is all Guru Yoga, is so vitally important for modern humans. In order to establish the proper order of practice, the foundation teachings and blessing of Refuge, Precepts and Bodhisattva commitments will be given first. In addition, anyone is welcome to attend for a renewal of these essential commitments and practices. After the empowerment of the Namgyal Guru Yoga, there will be teachings, group meditations and sessions of energy-awareness meditation. I will be emphasizing penetrative insight meditations on the illusory nature of all things, nature of mind and compassion for all life. If we wish to experience freedom, a great bliss of non-clinging awareness, then we need to find out what experience really is, from deep inside."

"Let me see if I can clear away any doubts on confusion regarding taking Refuge. I am offering the classic Mahayana blessing of: Taking Refuge, Precepts, Dharma Name, and Bodhisattva commitments (vows) and the explanations and teachings that precede the ceremony. Traditionally and by common sense, it is very important that before entering into Tantric practices that the above be established in the mind-stream. In fact it is not possible to unfold the Yidam practices, which are all Guru Yogas without this commitment, being established first (sometimes beings have this quality in their mind-stream quite naturally, however, even then it is very good to bring it to conscious knowledge and practice). That is why at the beginning of each Empowerment and Sadhana the Refuge and Bodhisattva vow is repeated three times, sometimes a number of times in different ways. To practice Tantra and become the Yidam, practice as a Buddha, and emanate and receive blessings, requires this foundation. However, it is often the case that the Lama allows people to attend and receive Empowerment, even practice Tantra, if they have not formally taken Refuge etc., as the refuge and bodhisattva commitment is said at the beginning of each Empowerment and Sadhana practice; and one hopes at some future time when all is auspicious that the being will formally take Refuge with a Vajrayana teacher. It is very important to one's ripening. One can take refuge with a teacher(s) many times in a life, and it is good to re-establish one's commitments and precepts, like a refreshing drink of elixir for strength and vigour, to re-join and remember; especially since it is normal that there have been transgressions or 'slip ups' in ethics and bodhicitta commitments. Sometimes beings get lost for a time or go astray in believing that people, places or things are the real Refuge and the means of unfolding wisdom-compassion.

When I am the Lama who bestows the blessing, I don't feel that those attending have an obligation to "be my student". However, of course, a strong connection is made; it may be the case that the person feels I am their principle teacher, but there are many who study or come to teachings and retreats that have another teacher who they have taken refuge with and who they consider to be 'their principle Lama', even 'root teacher.' I am offering this blessing more often these days because so many people are attending courses or retreats, especially with Tantric yoga, where I assumed they had taken Mahayana refuge from another teacher and it turns out they have not, even after many years of Tantric practice. And secondly, not all people who practice Tantra are always clear and well founded on the vital importance of Refuge, precepts and Bodhicitta commitments flowing and being fresh in our mind-streams. I have confidence that by taking Refuge etc., and receiving detailed teachings on these foundations of the Path, many impediments to beings unfolding get cleared up. So, from time to time I offer this blessing, especially the explanations and commentaries. How is it possible to have refuge in Guru Mind without refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha: Buddha-nature (Buddha), transmission of Dharma (Dharma) and those who have experienced the transcendental (Sangha)? How is it possible to have refuge in Guru mind without refuge in Vajra Body-Speech-Mind? Not! So we need to take very good care of our minds as mind is the ultimate Refuge, as it is for all other sentient beings. So, let’s start with a deep and well built foundation." LMW

The empowerment of White Tara will also be bestowed.

Please feel free to distribute this poster.

Neuroplasticty and the Illusory Nature of all Phenomena

There are 2, 4, and 6 week options (or longer as an individually guided retreat).

To register or enquire, please email Qtndharmahouse@yahoo.com

Summary of Retreat Program:
First Term
20 March - arrive and settle in.

21 March to 3 April -
Neuroplasticty and Meditation: breathing through the clouds obscuring Innate Awareness. Topics: Crafting a retreat: the art of enquiry and interest. Mental-body maps and the science of meditation. Energy Yoga through movement-awareness. Settling the body-mind. Empowerment, teaching and practice - to be advised.

3 April - Those due to depart should clean and vacate their rooms as early as practicable to make them available for those arriving.

Second Term
3 April to 1 May -
Mahamaya Empowerment and practice, combined with teachings on the illusory nature of all phenomena.
Topics: The practice and instructions of the Mahamaya Yoga;
Energy Yoga instructions and group practice through movement-awareness sessions, guided meditations;
Teachings on the illusory nature of all phenomena, neural maps and cognition, emptiness and compassion;
Exploring the nature of experience through penetrative insight;
The bliss-awareness of simply being.
Personal retreat guidance. Deepening the retreat.
Topics: Personal retreat guidance;
The retreat concludes with an Empowerment (to be announced), teachings and end of retreat

A period of personal retreat guidance will be included in the last week, deepening the retreat.
The retreat will conclude with an Empowerment (to be announced), teachings and end of retreat feast offering.

You are now invited to make application for a period of retreat commencing on either the 20th of March or the 3rd of April. Please also state the date on which you would propose to leave. All applicants will be advised and from successful applicants a deposit will be requested.

"Applications are invited for any of the following:
1. Full 42 day retreat commencing 20 March.
2.. Part retreat of two weeks commencing 20 March.
3. Part retreat of four weeks commencing 3 April. (Applications for less than four weeks may be considered if places are available and at Lama Mark's discretion)

Important Note: Indicated interest is high for all three options. As accommodation is limited places will be allocated as follows:
1. First, to those registering for the full 42 days, and
2. Secondly, to those wishing to register for less than 42 days. Note: for applicants proposing to retreat from 3 April the longer the retreat the better the chance of securing a place.

Click here to link to the Wangapeka Website

The art and science of meditation

Further details to follow. Registration is by contact with the Dharma Centre of Canada.AdminOffice@dharmacentre.org www.dharmacentre.org

Unifying Yidam Yoga with Pristine Awareness

These teachings are about how to practice Deity (Yidam) Yoga. The most important aspect will be imparting a clear view of what it is that one is meditating on! He will emphasize such crucial topics as Bodhicitta, emptiness, and compassion, especially from the perspective of Dzogchen-Mahamudra. Lama Mark will clear away misunderstandings, and highlight how profound a path this is for strengthening Bodhicitta and compassion, as well transmuting unproductive life patterns. Understanding some key principles of this important yoga is essential to both deriving profound benefits for all, and enjoying these practices. Empowerment to be announced.

"For those engaged in the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism, Deity (Yidam) Yoga practice is essential. These meditations bring about mental and physiological strength, ripen talents and richness, clear away difficult obstacles and help bring about profound compassion and wisdom. There will be discourse, practice and commentary to help practitioners gain a vast view of the importance and joy of Yidam meditation and mantra yoga and how to deeply integrate it with the mind's inner potential. So many unnecessary misunderstandings and frustrations are present around these Yogas, especially the practice and view of mantra yoga, visualization, different modes of practice and the essential dissolution stage. The structure, purpose and inner nature of these meditations will be clarified. In addition, the training and explorations that must be accomplished, the signs of discovery, and how insight meditations such as Mahamudra and Dzogchen are seamlessly integrated into these Yogas will be shown. Without integrating these yogas with the View of Emptiness, one may as well plant seeds in barren ground or watch images in a mirror without ever investigating the nature of the mirror." Lama Mark

WEEKEND RETREAT WITH LAMA MARK WEBBER

OPEN PUBLIC TALK ON FRIDAY EVENING JULY 3, at 7 P.M.

RETREAT - SATURDAY JULY 4 and SUNDAY JULY 5

Meditation-Naturally: How is Continuity of Meditative Concentration Sustained ?

With the support of Lama Mark, this weekend retreat is a time for discovery and learning the essentials of meditation. Meditation is the profound lucidity of the natural unobstructed mind. It needs no dogma, continuity of awareness is ever present and its nature is free of emotional turmoil. How to unfold this elegant and wonderful simplicity? That requires a road map, an over-view and training or mental culture, mixed with lots of experimentation. In this retreat Lama Mark will emphasize two foundations: kindness and mindfulness of breath. Through talks, short duration meditations and gentle and slow movements we learn to sustain meditative awareness throughout the day. The retreat is for those at all stages of meditative skill. Questions during the retreat are welcome.

Camping by option ~ Food by collective effort.Bring warm clothes, blanket and or yoga mats and sitting cushion if you have them - a few are available.

Friday Public Talk by Donation

Retreat Course Fee of $40 /members or $60 - covers the Teachers expenses and basic sundries

Dana for the Teacher - In keeping with traditional practice, the Teacher does not charge a fee. It is left up to the participants to assess their own circumstances and to give accordingly, as generously as possible. Fees charged by Crystal Mountain cover expenses to provide the Teaching and are not payment for the Teaching itself.

Please contact Libby at 250 539 3783 or bilbot51@hotmail.com to register or for information Libby or Janice at 250 539 3389 Please call to join the car pool

May 15: An Introductory Talk on: The Essence of Meditation and Practice. May 16 and 17: A Weekend Retreat: Breathe Again! May 20: Dharma Class: Tantra: What is it? May 22: Dharma Class: Dream Yoga. May 23: Empowerment and Teachings on The White Umbrella Mother

Please click here for a full description of the programme.

For further information please contact Duncan Gray

Empowerment and teachings of the White Umbrella Mother. Open to all. Followed by a feast offering and a pot luck lunch.

For further information please contact Alan

Lama Mark will bestow the authorization Empowerment of Hevajra and afterwards give pith instructions on this deep and ancient meditative transmission. Requires previous practice and permission). Further teachings to be announced.

For further information please contact Alan

Classes & a non-residential retreat: Saturday 9am to 9pm, Sunday 9am to 5pm.

A unique, calm and supportive approach to being in a meditation retreat. During this retreat there will be an emphasis on getting to know the nature and interrelationships of breath; mindfulness-awareness, lucidity, kindness, and energy cycles in your mind-body. Lama Mark will show how direct and straightforward is meditation and that the kind and aware mind is always there; although just a 'bit' hidden away for a time!

For further information please contact Alan

Lama Mark will start with two classes on the basis and development of Buddhist Tantra, the nature of Empowerment and its unique methods of meditative practice. After the Empowerment of Medicine Buddha Lama Mark will teach two classes on mental and physical healing followed by two classes on classical Tantric instructions on dying, death and rebirth.

Classes/non-residential retreat: 7 classes total Dates: 9:30am & 7:30pm: Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 28 and March 1st & 7:30pm March 3, 4, 5.

For further information please contact Alan

Wuppertal, Germany - Teachings by Lama Mark Webber

Weekend 1- (Forest Retreat Centre- Waldpädagogisches Zentrum Burgholz) Jan. 23-25th - Open to all 1) Teachings on Tantra: What it means, why it developed and how it developed. How Tantra works and why it is so important to Western practitioners of Dharma; Tantra and Compassion; the meaning and importance of transmission and Wongkur (Empowerment); Tantra and the removal of life obstacles. 2) An introduction and overview to the Mandala Offering in the Extraordinary Foundation Practices: What is a Mandala?; What is offered and why; the many levels of meaning and understanding of this profound meditation; building strength/merit and power to awaken. 3) A Vajrasattva Wongkur and some pith teachings.

In Wuppertal City- Authorization Wongkur of Yamantaka- An Evening during the week of January 26th (contact Karin Ricono for details) Requirements to attend: 1)Everyone attending is to be of healthy mind and body. Only for those who have completed at least 100,000 mantras of Chenresig, Sakyamuni or Manjusri or other Deity Yoga meditations, combined with visualization practice of the deity yoga. Attendance by approval of Karin Ricono. Pithy teachings on the meditation practice of Yamantaka will also be given.

Weekend 2- (Forest Retreat Centre- Waldpädagogisches Zentrum Burgholz): January 30 to Febuary 1st. Open to all. Teachings and direct instructions on the Natural Mode of Freedom. "The Essential Point in Three Statements" by Khepa Sri Gyalpo (Patrul Rinpoche). Lama Mark will teach from this wonderful and pithy Dzogchen text. And he will give teachings to point out the "View", Meditation" and "Conduct", the natural meditative state, relaxing the mind and getting to the essential question. What is meditation and what is not meditation? Find out how not to go astray in meditation and Dharma practice, how to go right to the "heart of the matter." Why practicing mindfulness alone does not liberate, and what other mental and physical factors are required for experiencing and developing confidence in this naturally compassionate and awake mode.

For further informationplease contact Karin Ricono at 0202/305930 or 0049/17652579518 or Monika Ellies by email or by calling 0049/173392145.

Sarasvati Wongkur

We are pleased to announce that the empowerment of Sarasvati will be given by Lama Mark Webber in Vancouver. This Wongkur is open for all to attend. It is a profound empowerment for the development of Wisdom, Memory and Eloquence.

Time: 9:15am

Exploring the Interface of Spiritual Practice and Therapy

This retreat-workshop will be given by Lama Mark Webber at UBC-Vancouver School of Theology. It is intended for practicing therapists.

Any other interested people besides therapists or for any further inquires regarding workshop details, please contact Cutting Edge Innovative Workshops: Saskia Soeterikor Debi Hartwell

A description of the workshop can be seen on the poster.

Generosity and the Craft of Awakening

Liberation and awakening is really a grand craft. And meditation is a craft, not a rote technique. Re-orientate to crafting a Path of Awakening through the joy of building, discovering, unlearning, making mistakes, studying, asking questions-questing-a mandala of projects all with awareness. This is an essential view. We must learn how to patiently chip away, like a good sculptor in stone, at a theme or spiritual project until revelation and deep meaning emerges. This is something to learn and imbibe from the Guru and fellow spiritual friends. These teachings will also touch on: how to practice the art of generosity which is such a swift path to freedom; what is a rich spiritual person? How do we become rich and strong? Teachings on the Wish Granting Gem and the Buddha's Wish Granting Tree; and the vanquishing of the poverty mind.

Lama Mark will also offer on Saturday morning a Zambala Yab-Yum empowerment from the Nyingma Tradition, a Guru Yoga practice.

Schedule:

Aug. 28 Thursday

5:30 pm pot luck supper and hello

7:30 pm class

Aug. 29 Friday

9:00 am -11:00 am Interviews

7:30 pm class

Aug. 30 Saturday

9:30 am Zambala Yab-Yum Wongkur

2:30 pm class on Zambala Yab-Yum, Generosity and Guru Yoga

Aug. 31 Sunday

10:00 am class Zambala Yab-Yum inner yoga and Wisdom

Coffee-tea gathering with an informal talk on the art of coffee making, ecology, diatoms and many beautiful recent pictures of marine plankton.

All classes, interviews, meetings, social occasions around this visit will take place at 36 Vanson Ave. All are welcome.

Any questions, please contact Trudy by email or by calling 613 226 6371

The Crystal Mountain Society is pleased to host:

Meditation, Awareness and Movement

At 3630 West Broadway, Vancouver, (a few doors west of Banyen Books) 7:00 to 9:00 pm

• An introduction to the craft of meditation, awareness and breath
• How to cultivate a continuum of lucid mindfulness and loving-kindness
• How slow movement with mindfulness deepens well-being
• Meditation without all that struggle and frustration-Practice sessions together
• Learn how to use movement-mindfulness & breath to greatly deepen meditation
• Learn how to meditate all day
• Learn how to bring breath-energy-sensation to every part of your body

For registration please contact Gisele Sabourin at: 604-877-1469 or email crystalmountainsociety@yahoo.ca

The Tantric Meditation on the Unity of Generosity and Wisdom: Golden Zambala Yab-Yum

Dates: July 7-26th (three-weeks), with one, two and three week options.*

"Generosity- both the act of giving and receiving- is a vital root nourishing all meditative and spiritual growth. Without generosity conjoined with penetrative insight, the fruits of one's practice, especially meditative concentration are always weak. Zambala is a principle Tantric meditative deity (Yidam) for unfolding the unity of generosity and wisdom and the skill to help others develop this strength. It is a corrective to mental and material impoverishment, so we have abundant energy to fulfill the Path of Liberation and give this gift to others. Generosity is the rapid antidote to attachment, hoarding, stinginess and clinging. We need to unfold a generous mind filled with concentration, exploration, joy, love and awareness; this is a supreme gift to ourselves and all living beings. The more we overcome resistance to giving and receiving beyond what we thought possible, fear and anxiety evaporate and the non-clinging, free and luminous aspect of the mind naturally manifests. Insight or wisdom is gaining a clear and continuous experience of this naturally inherent aspect of mind. In this retreat, through a combination of Empowerments, teachings, daily meditations, body, breath and energy awareness we will begin to discover and unfold the power of generosity which is within all of us." (Lama Mark)

To Register for this retreat please email: crystalmountainsociety@yahoo.ca

or Phone 250.383.3032

* One may attend the first week; the first and second weeks or the full three-weeks.

Buddhist Meditations on Realizing the Naturally Awake State

ANNUAL THREE-WEEK MAKARORA RETREAT

Lama Mark will be bestowing the empowerment of Karma Paksi and giving teachings from texts by the great 8th century teacher and yogi, Padmasambhava. There will be individual meditation guidance and group practice sessions. This retreat will be a great opportunity to learn the essence of meditation, mind yoga and some physical movements to bring about peacefulness and bright awakeness. Throughout the course, Lama Mark will point to and instruct on the essence of true meditation; the natural continuum of mindfulness and lucid awareness inherent in every moment, in every one of us. We come to discover, through sustained concentration merged with loving-kindness, a compassionate, vividly aware mind free of mental obstacles and delusions.

The empowerment of White Six-Armed Mahakala will also be given. This is a practice for the discovery of Pristine Awareness, support for meditative practice through richness and power, the dissolution of material and psychological poverty for all beings, and the alchemical transmutation of the life energies.

Location: Makarora Homestead, New Zealand

Please contact Alan for more information or registration.

The Western Mystical Path: teachings from St. John of the Cross

A BOLD ILLUMINATION OF THE MEDITATIVE PATH

Lama Mark Webber will be teaching on the topic of the Western Mystical path, a subject he is currently teaching and exploring during the three-month San Ginesio retreat. Readings and commentary from St. John of the Cross's manual of meditation called the Ascent of Mt. Carmel will form the core of this weekend of teaching and meditation. St. John of the Cross is a famous 16th century mystic and one of Spain's greatest poets. He was also a brilliant systematizer of the entire spiritual path, especially his division of the path into three Dark Nights; of the senses, of faith and of God, corresponding to the lights of evening, midnight and dawn. The equivalences, to be revealed in these classes between St. John of the Cross's teachings and the Mahamudra and Dzogchen traditions are unmistakable, illuminating and beautiful to behold. Lama Mark will also discuss some differences in cultural attitudes and history between Buddhism and its meditation systems and the path of the Western Mystic; including how we integrate our rich Western tradition of enquiry and scientific method. By exploring the teachings of a great Christian Mystic, meditative practitioners no matter what path they follow may see how universal and essential is the nature of liberation.;

Location: Queenstown Dharma House

Please contact Alan for more information or registration.

The Foundation of Buddhist Meditation: The Practice of Loving-kindness

"At the heart of all Buddhist meditation is the practice of Loving-kindness. Without a good foundation in loving-kindness many obstacles will occur to unfolding the union of wisdom and compassion. There is so much frustration, anger, rage and jealousy in us; these states of mind and body must be quenched, tamed and dissolved into a loving, open heart of clear mind. To love, we feel we must hold on, deeply grasp to ideas, objects, people and places- this is not necessary- and it causes suffering. We discover, the more we empty out all grasping and delusions, the more love for all life pours into us. ..." -Lama Mark

Location: Queenstown Dharma House

Please contact Alan for more information or registration.

Meditations on Overcoming Fears: The Mandala of the Twenty-0ne Taras

"The meditations of the Twenty-one Taras (female embodiments of wisdom and compassion) are a powerful entry gate into liberation from fears and anxieties and the building of great emotional and mental strength. By becoming each figure in the mandala, different types of obstacles are dissolved and strengths and talents open. This is a mandala of compassionate awake activity. Each figure is an aspect of the central green figure of Tara (Tara-"to cross over"). Around her are four different Taras representing the Four Buddha Activities of: peacefulness, unfoldment/increase, power, and fierce cutting through all obstacles. Then there are the remaining sixteen Taras that help remove deep seated fears and anxieties and bring about immense strength. In addition to explaining the rich and ancient tradition of Tara, this is an ideal time to share some modern psychological and physiological views about anxiety and fear, trauma and the remarkable plasticity and openness of our nervous system." -Lama Mark

Location: This residential retreat will be held on a retreat property in the Waitakere hills, West Auckland.

Please contact Janet Eades for more information or registration.

Buddhist Meditations on Overcoming Fears and anxieties: The Empowerment and Teachings of Green Tara

"6The meditations of the Twenty-one Taras (female embodiments of wisdom and compassion) are a powerful entry gate into liberation from fears and anxieties and the building of great emotional and mental strength. By becoming each figure in the mandala, different types of obstacles are dissolved and strengths and talents open. This is a mandala of compassionate awake activity. Each figure is an aspect of the central green figure of Tara (Tara-"to cross over"). Around her are four different Taras representing the Four Buddha Activities of: peacefulness, unfoldment/increase, power, and fierce cutting through all obstacles. Then there are the remaining sixteen Taras that help remove deep seated fears and anxieties and bring about immense strength. In addition to explaining the rich and ancient tradition of Tara, this is an ideal time to share some modern psychological and physiological views about anxiety and fear, trauma and the remarkable plasticity and openness of our nervous system." -Lama Mark

Location: Waldpadagogisches Zentrum Burgholz , Wuppertal.

Contact: Karin Ricono telefon 0202/ 305930 or email for more information or registration.

The Vajra Mind Retreat in Italy

Individually guided meditation programs with weekly interviews. Teachings on the topic of the Western Mystical path. Readings and commentary from St. John of the Cross's manual of meditation called the Ascent of Mt. Carmel forms the core of this retreat's teaching and meditations. Also teachings on the Mahamudra and Dzogchen traditions of meditation, faults and pit-falls in meditation and teachings clarifying the nature of true meditative realization. Wongkur of Chenresig.

We have found an excellent retreat house in a beautiful, peaceful location in IL CASTELLANO http://www.ilcastellano.info 7 bedroom farmhouse, with 2 additional rooms, 3 bathrooms, teaching area, large kitchen.There is a small wood at the back of the house, which is filled with a wide variety of Mediterranean trees. It is part of the property, and so would be for your exclusive use. There is also an ancient footpath which takes you the 8 km to San Ginesio (click this link and then type San Ginesio, a beautiful walk which leads to an equally beautiful medieval town, with breathtaking views of the Sibillini Mountain range. We have options for this retreat.#1 short term retreat, anytime between October 5th and Jan.5th. The cost is unknown for a short term retreat, but most likely $40 CAN/day for Accommodation, $15/day for food, a donation towards Lama Mark's expenses, your personal travel expenses and Dana for Lama Mark.Please feel free to contact me about a 1 week, 2 week or however long you can come to Italy for a retreat. We have another farmhouse which is separate from the one described above, which will create an environment for short term retreats away from the deep retreat itself.#2 93 days in length from October 5th to January 5th. TOTAL COST: Roughly the total cost per person for the length of the retreat including accommodation, food and expenses for Lama Mark would be approximately $6500 CAN ($70/day)not including your personal flight cost and Dana for Lama Mark * The total cost is based on 7 people and will shift if we have more people in retreat. If there are 9 people in the retreat, which the farmhouse has the capacity for, then all the above costs will change slightly (lower), and they would also change if the exchange rate from Euros to CANadian dollars changes. We need to know who is serious about this retreat so that we can reserve this house, another house for Lama Mark and plan for this retreat.please email for more information or registration.

Community Gathering and Summer Retreat on Galiano Island

July 6th, 7th and 8th Community Gathering - everyone welcome

July 8th - 28th The Songs of Liberation

please For information and a registration form:

Please email Denise Truax to Register : dtruax (at) ontera.net

or phone Helen Foster for information at (604) 947 0987

Teachings of Guru Padmasambhava:

April 21st to May 13th in Makarora. Meditations and teachings introducing the natural state of awareness. With the empowerments of Guru Rinpoche and Fierce Guru with Phurba.

please contact Sunil for more information or registration.

A Vipassana and Chenresig Retreat:

Unfolding the Nature of Loving-kindness and Emptiness. A 12 day retreat on Galiano Island.

please contact Johanna for more information or registration

Public classes in Vancouver

Location to be announced. If you are interested in assisting and organizing these public talks please contact Jamie

Summer Retreat on Galiano Island July 8th to 29th

July 8th to 11th Family Retreat: Continuum of Awareness, traditional incense making, meditations and evening teachings. With a focus on community building and Dharma practice in daily life. The family retreat is not a prerequisite for the Diamond Dakini retreat but will be a very supportive way to move into the longer retreat, attendance is recommended by Mark. Silence will not be maintained. Everyone welcome .Course fee $37 per day includes camping, meals and course expense, flexible family rates. Dana: donation to the teacher for the teachings, suggested $20 -30 per day.

July 11th to 29th, The Diamond Dakini/Milarepa Retreat

The process of Tantric purification and meditation.; With wongkurs (Tibetan style initiation);given on Vajra Yogini and Milarepa with teachings from the Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa

Course Fee: $37 per day includes camping, meals and course expenses. Dana: donation;to the teacher for the teachings, suggested $20 - $30 per day.

4 day Retreat: Science & the Art of Meditation

The Hollow Body of Breath

Join us in a class that will explore the breath in a myriad of ways leading us to meditation.

230pm to 530pm at Indigo Spirit Yoga, to register or for information contact jamie

Dream Yoga & Meditations on Space, Light and Mind.

This Retreat will be held at "Bodega Resort". Accommodation will be in shared cabins with private bedrooms and fully equipped kitchens. The site is very quiet and spacious. The cabins are bright and well appointed. Please visit www.bodegaridge.com to view photos.

Retreatants should bring their own groceries for at least the first week (after that, shopping trips will be arranged).

Course Fees are $360.00/retreat

Accommodation -$325.00/retreat

Dana Suggested -$30.00/ day

For more information and registration contact Janice , Emily, OR Jamie.

Dream Yoga - The Mind Yogas of Night and Day Dreams

With teachings on the Extraordinary Foundation Practices as taught in the Tantric Buddhist tradition. This retreat is just outside of Winnipeg, at a St. Benedict Nunnery.

Open Public talks at the Dharma Centre of Winnipeg at 7pm, please contact Gerry Kopelow for directions to the centre and for information and registration for the retreats.

Travel explorations of Sri Lanka

The Vital Breath

Mahamudra and The Four Foundations of Mindfulness

Fossil and Mineral Collecting Trip

Travel and explorations throughout the south island of New Zealand

Vajra Yogini Retreat

The Vajra Yogini practice is only open to people who have completed 100,000 mantras of a peaceful Tantric meditation Deity. Individually guided retreats with Mark are also available. Please contact the administration at the Dharma Centre of Canada for more information.

The Vital Breath

This retreat emphasizes the awareness of the unity of breath and energy, leading to more vitality and reveals the natural vividness and openness of mind. This practice of developing breath will support a final week of insight practice in the tradition of Mahamudra.

Karma Pakshi Retreat: August 21 - 27

The meditative practice of Karma Pakshi, the second Karmapa is a powerful guru yoga with many profound pith instructions on Mahamudra.

Mahamudra (Vipassana) Retreat: August 28 - September 9th

The fruit of Mahamudra is the realization of the nature of mind, the natural state.

July 3 -16th, 2004 The Mandala of the 12 Manjushris and an introduction to Abhidhamma.

July 18-30th, 2004 Crystal Mountain Retreat & Study Centre. A Mahamudra (Vipassana) retreat.

For further information until April 1st please contact Helen Foster, for after April 1st please contact Denise Truax

Museum of Nature, Gem visit and talk (Mark Webber is an adept gem cutter and mineral enthusiast) Meet at the front door. Please note there is an entry fee to the Museum.