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The 2012 Green Tara Retreat will take place during the second half of 2012 (sometime between September - November). Please check our website for exact dates in April 2012. See more information about the reasons for this here.
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
The retreat requirements change every year according to the retreat structure.
The basic requirements for every Green Tara retreat are:
- 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.
- Yould should have taken the Green Tara Initiation, which will require taking the Bodhisattva Vows. Tushita will try to arrange for the Green Tara Initiation to be given by a qualified tantric master before the 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.
Registration
You can register by filling out our online form. |