John Reynolds/February 20./2016./English

John Myrdhin Reynolds Lama Vajranatha

February 20-21, 2016/14.00-21.00
Death and Dying in Tibetan Buddhist Tradition
Sambhala Center, Budapest Hungary  [Weekend seminar]
    Does conscious existence continue after the death of the material body? The ultimate fact of death faces every living being. Whatever is born will eventually die. Nevertheless, according to the teaching of the Buddha, the death of the brain and the material body is not the end of our conscious exerience. Death is only a passage and a gateway, one stage in our transformations along the journey. The Tibetan Book of the Dead, or Bardo Thödrol, “liberation through hearing while in the Bardo,” was one of the most profound texts to come out of the Dzogchen tradition of Tibet, this being established in the 8th century of our era by Padmasambhava. This master not only described the process of dying and how to prepare for this inevitable experience with certain meditation practices, but also detailed the after-death experiences of the individual, known as the Bardo, that eventually leads to rebirth into human existence, or into some other dimension of reality. The Dzogchen teachings of Padmasambhava serve both as the philosophical and the practical basis of the Book of the Dead. In this two day seminar, we shall look at the questions of death, dying, reincarnation, and purifying past karma in the light of Dzogchen and Buddhist psychology. Some practices in the Dzogchen tradition that relate to preparation for dying and the Bardo experience occuring thereafter will be examined.
contact/Marti, martihum@gmail.com   06 70 508 0084
info/Sambhala Tibet Center   sambhala@tibet.hu   06 70 431 9343
price/70 EU

February 27-28, 2016/14.00-21.00
Peaceful and Wrathful Deities Practice in the Tibetan Book of the Dead
Sambhala Center, Budapest Hungary  [Weekend seminar]
    The Tibetan Books of the Dead speaks of three Bardos, or inervals in the continuum of conscious experience. The first of these is the Chikhai Bardo, the Bardo of the dying process and this is discribed in these texts in some detail. This culminates with the experience of the Clear Light, after which the deceased consciousness (Namshe) finds itself in space outside its former material body in habiting a subtle, mind-made body. Its initial experiences occur in the immediate vicinity of the circumstances of one’s death, but then one becomes distracted by memories and karmic traces and wanders off through the lanscapes of the mind. However, from time to time consciousness encounters the dawning of certain archetypal figures known as the Zhitro, or Peaceful and Wrathful Deities, occuring during the next interval , known as the Chönyid Bardo, the Bardo of the Clear Light of Reality. If one recognises these luminous figures as archetypal manifestations of the nature of one’s own mind, one has the opportunity to liberate from Samsara. Failing to recognize their nature, however, consciousness will find itself propelled into the third interval, the Sidpai Bardo, or Bardo of the rebirth process. In this seminar we will look at the symbolic meanings of these figures and their deeper signifcance for the individual, including the meditations and rituals pertaining to them
contact/Marti, martihum@gmail.com  06 70 508 0084
Info/Sambhala Tibet Center   sambhala@tibet.hu   06 70 431 9343
price/70 EU