Green Tara Retreat

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Program/Courses

Green Tara Retreat

November 16 - 25, 2013
Led by Jimi Neal.

Tara represents the wisdom and compassion of all the enlightened beings in a female form.

Meditating on Tara is a very powerful way to identify and connect with our own inner potential for wisdom and compassion. It also helps to eliminate obstacles to the spiritual path and to being able to work for others.

About the Retreat

This is a practice belonging to the Kriya Tantra, the first of the four classes of tantra. During the retreat, we will do four sessions each day, starting with taking the Eight Mahayana Precepts in the morning, followed by Combined Jorcho/Lama Chopa in the first session, and three sessions of the Green Tara Sadhana.

The sadhana (or method of accomplishment) consists of taking refuge, generating bodhicitta, and making requests to the Green Tara lineage lamas to receive inspiration. Although accumulating mantra is not the main focus of the retreat, for those who are able, we will try to accumulate 10,000 mantras.

According to the advice of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, we will also do prostrations to the Thirty Five Buddhas before each session. To make the practice more experiential and meaningful, lam rim meditations will be incorporated, as a motivation for the practice and to leave strong imprints of both sutra and tantra in our mindstreams.

At the end of the retreat, we will offer extensive dedication for the long lives of our teachers and for world peace. The retreat will include an all night Tara Puja on the last night.

Requirements to join the Retreat

You should be a Buddhist, having formally taken refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Those who have not formally taken refuge or who have not participated in a tantric retreat before, will need to have an interview with Tushita's Spiritual Programme Coordinator and/or the retreat leader.
You should have taken the Green Tara Initiation, which will require taking the Bodhisattva Vow. Tushita tries to arrange for the appropriate initiation to be given by a qualified tantric master before each retreat starts.
You must be familiar with the Lam Rim (the Graduated Path to Enlightenment) and have attended at least one introductory course in Tibetan Buddhism.

Students on all our our Tantric Retreats are also required to follow our general discipline guidelines, which you see at the bottom of this page.

Registration

You can register by filling out our online form.

Rules of Discipline

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. silence_small

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).

Basic Course Discipline

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 Etiquette

"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.

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