Bon Chod Retreat: The Laughter of the Dakinis

With Tempa Dukte Lama and Andrew Kaiser

Friday January 8, 7-8:15pm: Introductory evening talk
Saturday January 9, 9:30am-5pm and Sunday January 10, 10am-1pm

Many of you requested that we offer a retreat on the ancient and powerful Bon Chod practice ‘Laughter of the Dakinis’ which is part of the weekly Saturday morning practice at Olmo Ling. We are happy to be able to respond to this request! The Chod practice ‘Laughter of the Dakinis’ features a hauntingly beautiful melody that is chanted and accompanied by the Tibetan hand-drum (Damaru) and bell, together with visualization. Please join us to learn this unique practice, and join us thereafter at the weekly Saturday morning meditation.

Chod means to cut through. This unique practice with its melodious chant and visualization involves our whole being to help us develop the wisdom that can cut through the four fears or demons that afflict us and cause suffering:

• Our grasping of the ego
• Our attachment to our physical body and the five aggregates of form, feelings, perception, mental formations, and consciousness
• Our afflicted emotions and habits and
• Our fear of mortality and our attachment to our continuation as a permanent and independently existing entity.

The Chod practice ‘Laughter of the Dakinis’ was composed by the great Bon Dzogchen Master Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen who achieved the rainbow body in 1934. The Retreat is a wonderful opportunity to learn this powerful practice or to deepen your knowledge of and familiarity with Chod. The Retreat will combine detailed instruction and guided practice, including the specific chanting, visualizations of the invoked dakinis, and accompanying drum and bell practice. A limited number of traditional Tibetan hand-drums (Damarus) handmade in Nepal will be available for sale.

Tempa Dukte Lama is an ordained Tibetan Bon lama. He studied closely with His Holiness 33rd Menri Trizin at Menri Monastery from the age of six. He is the founder and spiritual director of Olmo Ling Bon Center and Olmo Ling Publications. He is an artist, poet, and the author of Heart Drop of the Loving Mother, Journey into Buddhahood, The Intimate Mind, and Inexhaustible Miracles. He has lived in the US since 2000 and teaches internationally, helping people bring a practice of compassion, healing, and happiness into their lives. Tempa Lama will be joined in offering this retreat by senior practitioner Andrew Kaiser who has practiced Chod for a number of years.

Registration

Early bird rate through Monday December 28, 6pm: Olmo Ling members: $89, non-members: $99. From December 29: Olmo Ling members: $108, non-members $120. Join us as a member to receive a 10% discount on Retreats at Olmo Ling.

Please do not let financial hardship affect your attendance. Contact Susan for scholarship opportunities at 412-904-1112 or by email to: bon@olmoling.org.