Most Venerable Khenchen Rinpoché Konchog Gyaltshen
FOUNDER

The Tibetan Meditation Center is very honored to announce Venerable Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoché, Grand Abbot of the Drikung Kagyu Lineage and founder of the Tibetan Meditation Center will be at the TMC for the following extended Teachings:

• Friday March 30 thru Sunday May 20th, 2012  - Mini-Shedra Teachings,  Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times.  A series of  8 consecutive Weekend Teachings which will include comprehensive instruction and commentary on the practice of Buddhist fundamentals by the translator of Gampopa's The Jewel Ornament of Liberation and Drigung Bhande Dharmaradza's The Jewel Treasury of Advice.  Additional teachings during the retreat will be given by Khenpo Tusltrim Tenzin and Khenmo Trinlay Chodron.  See below for full details.
   
• Saturday May 26th  to Sunday June 10, 2012 - Annual TMC Spring Retreat.  With Khenchen Rinpoche and the TMC Lamas.  Registration will begin April 1st.  Details of daily schedule to come.  Retreat to include:
• Khenchen Rinpoche will teach on Five Fold Path of Mahamudra: the Essence of Tantra Teaching.
• Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin will teach on Shantideva's Way of the Bodhisattva
• Drupon Thinley Ningpo will teach on Four Kaya Guru Yoga

Mini-Shedra Details:
NOTE  teaching topics are tentative and are subject to change. 

For Rinpoche's teachings on Jewel Ornament of Liberation, our best approximation of the divsion of subject matter is as follows: (Note: due to the nature of the teachings following one text, it is possible that the timing will vary somewhat, therefore please check the website for daily updates once the Mini-Shedra has begun.)

• Single day attendance = $45/day
• Full weekend attendance = $100 (if you pre-pay), $135 (at-the-door)
• Full program attendance = $800 (if you pre-pay), $1080 (at-the-door)

A Shedra is defined “as place of learning” usually in a monastery or nunnery where the fundamentals of Buddhism are taught to high school and college age monastics. Receiving and fully comprehending these foundational teachings are the building blocks upon which one can construct, stabilize and maintain a firm Buddhist spiritual life. It does not matter whether one was raised in a western tradition or culture, or that one wishes to continue a certain religious affiliation after these teachings. The Buddhist philosophy cuts through all differences in mankind to reveal the oneness, sameness and absolute nature of our being enabling us to embody Loving-kindness and Compassion for the sake of all living beings and to share life with joy and understanding.

This is a very rare and extremely auspicious opportunity to receive comprehensive Dharma teachings in a most intimate setting from one of the most significant, living Dharma teachers born and raised in Tibet. Khenchen Rinpoche is known in many Buddhist monasteries and Dharma Centers around the world as an articulate teacher of the profound Middle Way Path of the Buddha.  Rinpoche has translated many ancient Buddhist texts and practices written by masters of the formative years of Buddhist thought. Rinpoche’s ability to speak directly in excellent English is a huge benefit to his many western students to clearly receive his Dharma teachings and to openly discuss questions and comments. See drikungtmc.org for a full biography of Rinpoche.

This mini-Shedra event is the first of many Shedra teachings that will bring greater access of the Buddhist Dharma into western culture by way of western students becoming teachers of the Dharma to other westerners. Since the early 1980’s Tibetan Lamas have spread throughout the nations of the world to disseminate the teachings of Buddhism with the single intent to bring enlightenment to all beings by becoming the very embodiment of those great teachings themselves. Their task has been to bring this knowledge to the west and our responsibility is now to listen, and contemplate the meaning of the teachings. Soon, effortlessly, contemplation gives way to meditation and then the wisdom and compassion that are the hallmarks of Buddhist thought and practice will come into our lives and we too will realize we have that same Buddha Nature within ourselves.

Gampopa, (author of The Jewel Ornament of Liberation) a physician from Dagpo region in S. Tibet, was the foremost student of the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Milarepa. Gampopa was renowned for the clarity of his perception and his knowledge of both Kadampa and, later, Mahamudra methods

Gampopa's position in the transmission lineage of the esoteric Mahamudra teaching is as follows:

• Tilopa (988-1069), the Indian yogi who experienced the original transmission of the Mahamudra
• Naropa (1016–1100), who perfected the methods of accelerated enlightenment, described in his six yogas of Naropa.
• Marpa (1012–1097), the first Tibetan in the lineage, who translated the Vajrayana and Mahamudra texts into Old Tibetan
• Milarepa (1052–1135), poet and master who overcame Marpa's reluctance to teach but nonetheless attained enlightenment in a single lifetime
• Gampopa, Milarepa's most important student, who integrated Atisha's Kadampa teaching and Tilopa's Mahamudra teaching to establish the Kagyu school

 This lineage sequence, taken together, is called the "Five Founding Masters" by the Kagyu followers.

Prior to studying under Milarepa, Gampopa had studied the Kadampa traditions, which is a gradual path based on the lamrim teachings. He searched for, and eventually met Milarepa, and attained realization of ultimate reality under his guidance. Gampopa wrote The Jewel Ornament of Liberation and founded the Dagpo Kagyud school in 1125. It was the integrative teaching of Gampopa which unified Kadampa and Mahamudra teachings into the distinctive Kagyu approach.