Mon, 10 Jul 2006
Retreat Notes
So I've been away at KTD attending their annual Summer Retreat. At the retreat, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche teaches for an hour and a half in the morning, answers questions for an hour and a half in the afternoon, and gives personal interviews for an hour as well. It's a tough schedule for anyone, and Khenpo is in his eighties. All through the retreat he looked tired and was suffering from a cold. He brightened up a bit on the last day, which makes me hopeful that he'll be better before next week, when he'll lead a Gyalwa Gyamtso retreat.
The attendance at the retreat was lighter than usual for several reasons. First, there was a Phowa retreat in June and only the most dedicated tried to do both. Also Bardor Rinpoche led a group to India for the celebration of the Karmapa's twenty first birthday. Light attendance was good in one way, because part of the residence was knocked down last fall to make way for the new construction, which means less dining and bathroom space. We managed quite well with the size crowd we had, but more would have been a problem.
The new construction will replace the old residence when finished and Patrick gave us a tour of it. Like the Eisenhower Library at Johns Hopkins, it's mostly below ground level: three floors below and only one above. But it's built into a steep hill, so the south side will be sunlit. The construction crew is working full out and construction could be finished in a year if (and it's a big if) they can get the money. They're two million dollars short of finishing and without donations construction will come to a halt this Fall. If you feel motivated to help, you can make a donation online.
The topic of the retreat was one of Karma Cagme's meditation text, The Profound Instructions of the Great Compassionate One. This text unifies Mahamudra and Dzogchen practice into a single system. This year we finished the text. The whole of Khenpo Rinpoche's teaching will be published as a book by KTD Books, probably later rather than sooner, because they have a lot to finish before they get around to it. More tomorrow. I've barely scratched the surface.
