About Event:
Many of our students were initially inspired by the courses offered by our ‘mother’ centre, Kopan Monastery outside Kathmandu, where Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche started teaching Westerners in the late sixties. The one-month courses given there became world famous, and many of the early students then went on to establish FPMT centres throughout the world, including Chenrezig Institute.
The courses were based on the Lamrim, a teaching of a complete and gradual spiritual path leading to enlightenment. In 1974 Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught the first of these courses in the west in a valley nearby and from this exciting beginning 50 years ago, our centre here in Eudlo was created. The Lamas continued to visit and teach often in the early years and we continue to offer these teachings annually in our Kopan-Down-Under Retreat…
Through cultivating an awareness of our present situation, we gain an understanding of the nature of our dissatisfaction and unhappiness, the causes for these states of mind and how we can overcome them. The Lamrim teachings give us the tools to deal more effectively with any situation, be it positive or negative.
Our resident Tibetan Geshe, Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim, will teach this course and will be assisted by senior monk Ven Tony Beaumont as teaching assistant, leading discussions and meditations on the profound material.
The course will be based this time on Lama Tsongkhapa’s The Short Lamrim known as The Song of Spiritual Experience (you may also see it as Abbreviated Points of the Graded Path, and often The Hymn of Experience), and will cover many important topics such as the Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, the Four Noble Truths, Karma, The Nature of our Mind, Conventional and Ultimate Truth, Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, Bodhicitta and Enlightenment
The full retreat schedule may be read or downloaded here .
Note that a Refuge Ceremony will be offered by Geshe Tsultrim on the final day of the retreat for students wishing to take refuge for the first time, and for all those wishing to refresh their vows
About Teacher:
Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim is immensely popular for the warm and approachable way in which he presents the Dharma and inspires our community. He became a monk at Sera Je Monastery in India, where he was awarded his Geshe degree (the equivalent of a doctorate in Buddhist studies) in 2005. He began teaching at Chenrezig Institute in 2014 after being chosen for our community by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. He teaches in Tibetan with the help of one of his professional translators, in this case Ven Dorje.
Geshe Tsultrim has a warm-hearted, caring and practical approach to teaching Dharma. He has been the resident Geshe at Chenrezig Institute since 2014. Since then he has taught Dharma from both the Gompa and by the example he sets outside of the Gompa.
About theTeaching Assistant:
Ven Tony first made contact with the Buddha-dharma in Nepal and India in 1976. Following this, he trained and worked for four years as a psychiatric nurse, and then in the 1980s was based at Chenrezig Institute during which time he served, at different times, as the cook, an office worker, and as a gardener.
Following ordination as a monk in 1991, he lived for seventeen years at two different FPMT monasteries, at Nalanda Monastery in France and at Thubten Shedrup Ling monastery in Bendigo, where he served as director. He has led retreats and courses at various FPMT centres throughout the world, as well as teaching in prisons and schools.
About the Translator:
Geshe Tsultrim will be joined by his new translator on Zoom direct from India. Thupten Gyaltsen was born in Tibet and came to India in pursuit of freedom and better educational opportunities. He dedicated eight years to studying Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan literature at Sera Jey Monastery, and received his Masters in Sanskrit Buddhist literature from Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU).
Currently, he serves as the Assistant Editor of the Multi-lingual Dictionary of Buddhist Terms (Pali, Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, English and Hindi), Department of Pali and Buddhist Studies, (SPPU) and as the MT Prompt Task Reviewer at Monlam Tibetan IT and Research Center.
The schedule for the entire retreat will be uploaded here soon.
REGISTRATION
Registration, for the entire retreat, both in person and online, will open 9th October, with a reduced-price early bird accommodation rate of 30% reduction on the usual charges available until 9th November when all prices will return to our usual reasonable rates.
Please book accommodation and food through info@chenrezig.com.au
We want to encourage those who plan to attend the entire retreat and registration for single days will be held off until 3rd December.
The recommended registration fee for the entire retreat is $400 but you may offer whatever you are comfortable with.
$150 will cover about half the costs – and still help us to continue
$300 for the ten days will cover our basic costs for this retreat
A generous $400 contribution will cover costs, and help us continue to offer courses and retreats like this into the future, as well as the many events we offer free of charge.
Of course you are always free to offer more if you wish – please give as generously as you are able to benefit other students at Chenrezig Institute!
From 3rd December it will be possible to register for single days – either in person or online.
Once again, although the recommended daily rate is $50, you are free to decide just what you are happy to contribute Please use the “custom’ contribution to make your donation.
$15 per day will be of assistance
$25 will cover our basic costs for this retreat
and $50 per day will help us continue to offer courses and retreats like this into the future as well as all the other events we offer free of charge
Note: when you register to attend online, please read the attached information and requests for the benefit of our students and volunteers: Information for online participants
Accommodation and food are of course available through our website at https://chenrezig.com.au/stay-at-chenrezig and https://chenrezig.com.au/big-love-cafe. If there are any issues booking food or accomodation email info@chenrezig.com.au