Vajrayana Meditation Retreat with Pema Khandro
May 29 – Jun 3
Jikoji Zen Center, Santa Cruz Mountains
Retreat into the beautiful redwood forest, unwind with restorative yoga, experience deep meditation, enjoy organic vegetarian meals, converse with fascinating people and best of all, receive Buddhism’s most profound teachings…
Register Now – We have a few spots left!
This meditation retreat focuses on Tibetan Buddhism’s esoteric practice for transforming the most difficult experiences into opportunities for awakening, known as “Cutting Through” or Chod. It is a practice for opening to intrinsic wholeness, loving compassion, and natural resilience.
Chod is a dynamic meditation practice cherished by every lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. It incorporates, vision, mantra, prayer, music, and ritual to cultivate open-hearted presence as the path to non-dual awareness.
It is also a Buddhist method for healing and transforming the hidden content within one’s own mind to release past traumas, undigested emotions and transform difficult experiences.
It is an ideal meditation practice for Vajrayana practitioners to train in because Chod includes every Vajrayana practice in its most essential form: refuge, bodhichitta, mandala offering, deity yoga, guru yoga, illusory body practice, transference of consciousness (Phowa) and more.
The retreat will alternate between teachings on Buddhist philosophy, training in Chod, dynamic meditation practice and silent sitting meditation. It will include instructions on:
- How to use the instruments, drum, bell and thigh-bone trumpet
- Chanting the Laughter of the Dakinis Chod in Tibetan & English
- The visualization and meaning behind Chod
- Black Vajrayogini Meditation
- The Chod technique for working with emotions and subconscious mind
- The song of the Dakinis of the five directions
- Dzogchen and Chod – Buddhist philosophy on the nature of mind
- Silent sitting meditation, the direct path to finding calm and quiet
- The history and significance of the Longchen Nyingthig, the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse
The retreat will begin on Saga Dawa, May 29th, the day of the Buddha’s birth, death and enlightenment, the most important day of the year to be doing intensive contemplative practice. It will continue until June 3rd.
The retreat will be held in the beautiful redwood forest in North California, just outside Santa Cruz, at Jikoji Zen Center. At 2350 ft. elevation in the Santa Cruz mountains, the property has many unique features, such as a large pond (or small lake), places to pitch a tent (in addition to hostel type accommodations), and miles of hiking trails in the surrounding 1800 acres of Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District.
Upcoming Events with Pema Khandro
May 25, 7pm – Love in Times of Hate, Berkeley MahaSiddha Center
Residential Retreats
May 29 – Jun 3 – Vajrayana Meditation Retreat: Chod, Jikoji Zen Center
Aug 14 – 19 – Dzogchen Meditation Retreat, Mount Madonna Center
Oct 19 – 21 – Vajra Sangha Retreat, Khandro Ling Retreat, Virginia
Teacher Training
Sep 13 – Oct 6 – Meditation Instructor Training, Online
Oct 22 – 25 – Group Leader Training, Khandro Ling Retreat, Virginia
Weekly Online Classes
Wednesdays at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
1st Wed – Vajrayana Training
2nd Wed – Dzogchen Day for Members
3rd Wed – Ngakpa Training for Varja Sangha students
4th Wed – Open Teaching – Free for the Public