Tushita is delighted to announce a series of special events, led by Andy Wistreich, related to His Holiness the Dalai Lama conferring the Kalachakra Initiation in Bodhgaya, India December 30, 2011 – January 10, 2012 (for more information about the Initiation in Bodhgaya visit: www.dalailama.com or www.kalachakra2012.org).

Andy participated in the first Kalachakra empowerment by the Dalai Lama in the USA at Madison in 1981, and began to practice daily Kalachakra right away, leading the first Kalachakra group retreat in London shortly after.  Finding a shortage of materials in English, in the mid-eighties he proposed the idea of a Kalachakra Institute to support practitioners to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and maintained his commitment to making the teachings more available to practitioners until in 1996 the London Kalachakra Practice Group was established at Jamyang Buddhist Centre, and in 1998 the International Kalachakra Network (IKN) was formed. Signatories to the IKN memorandum include Kirti Tsenshap Rinpoche, Geshe Thubten Jinpa. Bob Thurman, Alex Berzin and Vesna Wallace.  IKN is now established as a valuable online source of non-Tibetan materials for Kalachakra practitioners, as an information resource and discussion forum, and has taken advice from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Namgyal Khensur Jhado Rinpoche and others. The IKN executive includes most of the contemporary translators of Kalachakra materials, as well as representatives of Kalachakra groups from around the world. It is completely trans-sectarian.

Andy completed the Kalachakra approximation retreat at Tushita in 2008, having received commentary on generation and completion stage practices from Jhado Rinpoche in Europe in 2003 and 2005. He has received commentary on the Kalachakra Six Session Guru Yoga from Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche, Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, Kirti Tsenshap Rinpoche, Jhado Rinpoche, and Alex Berzin. He is an FPMT-registered teacher.

Intermediate Level Course
February 6 – 13, 2012

This course is being run with the intention to support those who attended the Kalachakra Intiation given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Bodhgaya, India between December 30, 2011 – January 10, 2012. However, this course is suitable for all students who have attended one of our 10-day introductory courses or equivalent.

This course will enable students to explore two important personal and global issues within the framework of the Kalachakra (Wheel of Time) Buddhist system. Both concern the harmonisation of areas of life where disharmony is often experienced – the environment and personal relationships. The first topic of the course will teach methods for harmonising the inner and outer elements – helping us to heal the body and our relationship with nature. The second topic will teach methods for harmonising the male and female aspects of one’s psyche as a basis for making more harmonious relationships with others. Therefore, in a very practical and relevant way, the course will also provide an introduction to the Kalachakra system of inner and outer transformation. The methods taught will not be the actual practices of the Kalachakra tantra, in order to enable those who haven’t taken the initiation to attend and benefit. However, for those initiates planning to or already practising the Kalachakra yogas, this course will provide an excellent enrichment to your practice.

Recommended Reading:

"Taking the Kalachakra Initiation" - Alexander Berzin
"The Practice of Kalachakra" - Glenn Mullin
"The Inner Kalacakratantra" - Vesna Wallace

For more information about Intermediate Courses, a typical schedule, and how to register please see our Intermediate Course Page.

Group Retreat - Open only to those who have received the Kalachakra initiation
February 16 – 27, 2012

This retreat will include instruction in the practice of The Guru Yoga of Kalachakra in connection with the Six Sessions in completely facilitating form and recitation of 100,000 mantras of each of the two main deities, plus 10,000 mantras of each of the ten Shaktis, plus 10,000 wisdom-showering mantras. It will be completed by a fire puja to purify all one's practice in the retreat. This sadhana, which many practitioners recite every day, is an excellent starting point for the practice of Kalachakra. It was composed with inspiring poetry by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama's senior tutor, based on specific suggestions by the Dalai Lama, and is thus a specially blessed contemporary practice for our time. The retreat will be an excellent opportunity to establish the practice in one's mindstream, enabling one to continue to integrate it in daily life. There will not only be instruction in the practice, but also opportunities for supplementary meditations to improve one's practice, and discussion sessions to facilitate knowledge of the whole Kalachakra system. This system is extremely powerful in effecting personal transformation at the very deepest level.

For the retreat schedule, please click here.

Recommended Reading:

"Transcending Time" - Gen Lamrimpa

To register for this retreat please fill in our online application form.

Intensive Seminar - Open only to those who have received a Highest Yoga Tantra initiation
March 1 – 7, 2012

This will not be a teaching but a facilitated seminar enabling participants to explore issues related to the practice of Highest Yoga Tantra, in pairs, small groups and the whole group. Topics to be covered during the seminar include the following:

• Highest Yoga Tantra in the basis, the path and the result;

• Ethics in Highest Yoga Tantra – including issues of relating purely to the Guru, and of using desire in the path;

• Concentration in Highest Yoga Tantra – including transforming ordinary identity and appearance to divine identity and appearance – the challenges of using the imagination effectively in the generation stage; and working with specific points in the body, and meditating on the ultimate nature of mind effectively in the completion stage;

• Wisdom in Highest Yoga Tantra – including the specific practices associated with meditation on emptiness using the fundamental innate mind of clear light, and the role of emptiness awareness throughout the practice of Tantra.

• Specific issues related to the Guru, the Yidam, the Dakas and Dakinis, and the Dharma Protectors, and how to relate to them effectively in one’s practice.

Since this seminar will not be a teaching, participants will be expected to share their understanding, knowledge, uncertainties and questions in the context of an open gathering of equals.

More information about the seminar schedule etc. will be available soon.

Recommended Reading:

"A chat about Heruka" - Lama Zopa Rinpoche
"A chat about Yamantaka" - Lama Zopa Rinpoche
"Highest Yoga Tantra" - Daniel Cozort
"The Bliss of Inner Fire" - Lama Yeshe
"Yoga Tantra" - H.H. the Dalai Lama and Jeffrey Hopkins
"The Tantric Path of Purification" - Lama Yeshe

To register for this seminar please fill in our online application form.

It is only possible to stay at Tushita if you are taking one of our residential courses/retreats or are an established Buddhist practitioner doing your own formal Buddhist retreat of a minimum of 10 days duration.

Since Tushita is a semi-monastic meditation centre and not a guesthouse, we ask all of our retreatants and visitors to observe the following rules of discipline in order to maintain an atmosphere conducive to inner reflection and meditation:

• Respect all life: do not intentionally kill any living being, even small insects.
• Respect others' property: do not steal or take anything not freely given.
• Be honest and straightforward: do not lie or intentionally deceive others. This is easy when observing silence!
• Be celibate: no sexual activity. This also includes no holding hands, hugging, massages and other physical displays of affection.
• Be alert and mindful: avoid intoxicants such as alcohol, drugs and cigarettes (we encourage you to stop smoking while here, but if this is impossible, one can smoke at a designated place within the centre boundary).
• Be considerate of others' silence: keep silence in the appropriate areas and at all times during residential courses, especially in the Gompa and the dormitories. No singing or playing music and in general, maintain a quiet demeanor while on the property.
• Be considerate of the monks and nuns: dress respectfully (please no shorts above the knee, tank-top shirts or tight and revealing clothing).

In order to keep the atmosphere conducive to inner reflection and spiritual pursuit and to minimise distractions during the course, students on our residential courses and retreats are asked to abide by our basic code of discipline listed below.

• Please settle all outside communication before the course begins. Telling friends and family that you will be out of contact for the duration of the course and sticking by that decision significantly reduces distraction from investigation into the workings of your own mind! Likewise, please settle your travel arrangements etc before you come to Tushita!
• You are expected to observe silence (no talking at all) from the evening of the first day until the end of the course.
• Do not leave Tushita property for the entire course.
• Participants must attend all sessions of the course and come to sessions on time.
• Please put all communication / entertainment devices (laptop / mobile phones /cameras / MP3/CD players) etc into our safe at check-in.
• Please be gentle in your behaviour and sensitive to fellow group members.

"Gompa" is a Tibetan word which we use for Meditation Hall. Because a Gompa is the location of study, meditation and devotional practices, Buddhists consider them to be holy places. In this tradition, the following modes of behaviour are considered respectful in a Gompa and we ask you to follow them while here:

• Do not point your feet towards the teachers, the altar or any holy object.
• Do not put Dharma materials – prayer books, texts, Dharma books or notebooks with Dharma in them – on the floor, or sit or step over them.
• Do not lie down or do any yoga exercises in the Gompa at any time.
• No idle chit-chat in the Gompa (ie. You can ask the teacher questions during class, but do not talk with other students).

Thank you so much for your support.